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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



V 



'X 



THE DOOR OPENED 



GIVING A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF THE 

END FROM THE BEGINNING 

OF SPIRIT LIFE, 



OR 



A REVELATION OF THE WAY 
AND DESTINY OF MAN. 



BY 



LYMAN M. DENNIS. 



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W. B. DUCHEMIN, Printer and Stereotyper, 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 

IS93. 



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PREFACE. 

The Bible comes to us as a jewel set in the great cycles 
of Time, overlaid with the beauties of Eternity, and re- 
flecting the image of the One Altogether Lovely. It has 
truth for its matter, God for its author, and salvation for 
its theme. Its pictures have exhausted the beautiful; its 
descriptions have unfolded the roll of all wisdom, dis- 
covered the hidden treasures of the Earth, set before us 
the patterns of all things to come, taught all arts, indus- 
tries and sciences ; given the experience of the ages to 
all moral philosophies ; set thrones, established govern- 
ments, systematized thought, and adorned all eloquence ; 
harmonized all the ornamentation of the earth, taught 
men how to live, and pillowed the head in the hours of 
death. It takes hold of the hand for protection, and 
leads to Eternal Life in the presence of Christ. Its rays 
of Divine Light cover the whole earth, illumines the 
dark vaults of the prison, penetrates the hovels of vice, 
and shines on the throne of Empires. Its truths are from 
everlasting to everlasting, and its blessings to the ends of 
the Infinite and Eternal. Its knowledge is too vast for 
one mind to receive it all, yet set apart, to all men, in 
sentences so complete and harmonious, that salvation is 
drawn in one breath, and the wayfarring man, though a 
fool, need not err therein. 

In giving this work to the public for consideration, I 
have tried to call attention to the Jewels of Truth, in the 
hope that I might interest and instruct those who have 
neither time or inclination to draw the water of life from 
so deep a well, or drink the elements of eternal joy, in 
salvation from sin, to the Glory of God. 

L. M. D. 



CONTENTS. 



_, ( The Development oe the Divine 

1st Chapter, j m THE HlJMAN . 

The Breath of God — The Creator magnified — Personali- 
ty of God — Gravitation at work — Human and Divine In- 
telligence — Infinitude of God's Dominion — The Human 
and Divine Trinities — Absorbing Divine Life — Fruits after 
their kind — Elements of Divinity in Man — Equality before 
God — Spiritual Affinity — Conception of God — Mind De- 
velopment — Fear as a Religious Factor — Life of Christ a 
Revelation — The Light of the Dark Ages — Superstition 
operative — Principles of Liberty — Public Schools — Church 
Leadership — New Birth defined — Progression in Eternity — 
Our Common Enemy at work — Hereditary Character — Sus- 
tentation of the Spiritual — Phrenology — Origin of the 
Social Scale — lhe Dewdrop revealing God — Source of 
Power — Free Agency— The Soul, what is it ? — Immortality — 
A Mother's Influence — Victory over Satan — Fallen Angels — 
Prayer Defined— Joy in Christ. 



26. Chapter, . . . '.. . , Revelation. 

The Office of the Scriptures — Nature a Divine Teacher — 
Truth established — The Voice from Eden to Calvary — A 
Beginning proven — Discovery of the Attributes of God — 
Adam looking for Christ — The first Conversion — Piety of 
Abel — Enoch's Translation — State of Societjr in Noah's 
time — The effects of his Preaching — The Rain-bow coven- 
ant — The call to Abram — The promised Seed — Melchesi- 
dec's Banquet to Abraham — God speaks with a voice — 
Words which Abraham heard— Angels visit Lot — Abraham's 
death — Jacob in Bethel — The Promise renewed — Idolatry in 
Jacob's family — God revealed in dreams — Character of 
Joseph— Pharoah's Dream interpreted — Moses in God's 
stead— Crossing the Red Sea— Mt. Sinia— The Rock smit- 
ten in Rephidim — Priesthood established — The Wages of 
Sin — The intercession of Moses — In the cleft of the rock — 
The will of God subjected to the will of men. 



VI CONTENTS. 

3d Chapter, ... In the Promised I^and. 

Israel makes friends of the Idolaters — Judges ruling 
Israel — Backsliding — Elijah's word from God — The wicked 
Queen — First type of the Resurrection — Elijah's victory 
over Idolatry — The Voice in Horeb — Elijah taken up — 
Elisha's call and God's answer — Schools of the Prophets — - 
The 7,000 that remained — False Ideas accepted for Truth — 
Truth and Falsehood personified — Proof that God does not 
afflict man — God's Government of Israel — A sample of 
Satan at work — Dedication of Solomon's Temple — Fore- 
sight of Isaiah — Birth of Christ — His humiliation, death and 
resurrection — His transfiguration — The Holy Ghost prom- 
ised — Trinity — The burden of sin — Christ's Kingdom — 
Looking backward — The Lamb of God — God seeking the 
sinner — The plan of Salvation formulated — War in 
Heaven — Satan cast out. 

4th Chapter, . .. . . Satan at Work. 

The god of this world — The war in the flesh — Control- 
ling Spirits — The Angels in their field of action — Relative 
positions of the two armies — Satan entering Eden — His 
first victory — The Curse in Nature — God cutting off sin in 
the flesh — Satan establishing his kingdom — Worshipped 
in Images — Ceremonial mysteries — The decendants of 
Ham — The Magi of Egypt — Satan directing the schools of 
Greece — The revenues of Egypt — Israel afflicted — Satan's 
reward for service — Satan defeated — Eli's wicked Sons — 
Satan leads Israel out to battle — God's authority over 
Satan — David kills a giant — Satan in the home — Spirits 
that peep and mutter — Valley of Hinom — Daniel in the 
lions den — God's victory over Satan in Babylon — Satan op- 
posing God in Jerusalem — Slaughter of the Innocents — 
Temptation of Jesus — Christ casting out Devils — Cruci- 
fixion of Christ — Fulfillment of the First Promise. 

5th Chapter, . . The Kingdom Established. 

A woman clothed with the Sun — The twelve Stars — The 
two Witnesses — The open door — Revivals — Government of 
Rome — Selfishness of the Jews — Death of Steven — Conver- 
sion of Saul — Paul at Autioch — His Ancestry, Education 
and Character — John, his Prophecies — The Seven Seals — 
Satan worshipped in Pergamos— Jerusalem destroyed — The 
seven Churches of Asia — Inspiration of John the Evan- 
gelist—Origin of the Sacred Number — Periods of Prophe- 
cy — The U. S. A* in Phrorjhecy — Conflagration of Rome- 
Nero's cruelty — Purity of the early Christians — Papacy — 
The Dark Ages — The Pilgrim Fathers — The Reformation 
of Luther — Overthrow of Papacy in Rome — The seven 
Trumpets — The seven last Plagues — To the End — The 
Coming of Christ. 



CONTENTS. Vil 

6th Chapter, From Death to- the Resurrection. 
7th Chapter, . New Heavens and a New Earth. 
8th Chapter, . The Work of a Thousand Years. 



■-®X<^(f>®X9- 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 

God formed man of trie dust of the ground, 
and breathed into his notrils the breath of Life, 
and man became a living soul. We are taught 
in the Scriptures, also, that God created man in 
His own image and likeness. If we presume to 
study the character of the Supreme Being, in 
order that we may more fully understand our 
relation and obligation to the Creator, that Being 
will be magnified by an intelligent conception of 
the One universal Father of all animated Being. 

Without stopping to consider the character- 
istics of man, that are like those of his Maker, 
it is sufficient to say that mind, as it reaches out 
into the Infinite, is dazed and bewildered, as it 
enters the unknown beyond our conception. We 
are fully persuaded of the personality of the 
Supreme Being. We can conceive of no intelli- 
gence, unless we find mind encased in form, or 
body, and even then we only find intelligence in 
certain kinds of bodies. It is necessary for us 
to consider this subject with a great deal of 
deliberation, because we find that many bodies 
have no thought at all. The earth, once, was 
without form and void, and darkness reigned 



IO THE DOOR OPENED. 



upon the face of the deep ; and again when God 
applied the Law of Gravitation it became a body 
of Earth composed of many elementary princi- 
ples, and yet in all these elements there is not 
found, that which constitutes mind, as distinct 
from matter. The tree has roots, body, branches, 
leaves and fruit, and yet no thought ; so we find 
in the animal creation bodies of bone and flesh 
and blood, not unlike our own bodies, in these 
respects, and the}' have brains also, the habita- 
tion of mind, so that they are possessed of the 
powers of obedience, imitation and communica- 
tion of their desires, and yet we can not say that 
they have intelligence ; but when we look at 
man, we find a higher order of Being, because 
God breathed into his nostrils the Breath of 
Life. What a vast difference there is between 
mind and matter, when we compare man with 
the animal creation, and yet how infinitely more 
must be the difference between Life as it exists 
in man, and Life as embodied in that Being 
whose breath could give us an intelligent exist- 
ence, which no wreck of misfortune in time or 
eternity could extinguish. 

The poet has said : " Eternity, thou pleasing, 
dreadful thought ; through what untried changes 
must we pass?" And so, as we look through 
our own light-house, out over the great deep of 
Divine Life, we are but approaching the thres- 
hold of Him who filleth all in all. The pro- 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. II 

creation of the human family is to man, as deep a 
mystery as the triple unity of the God-head. 
If we analyze a sunbeam, we find it composed of 
seven primary colors, and as we study the absorb- 
ing qualities of the objects of nature, we learn 
that combinations of light in various degrees, 
gives an unlimited number of tints and shades 
of the original, which array themselves before 
the eye in such agreeable contrast, that at every 
turn we have new creations of beauty; nor is 
there permancy even in these ; the bright green 
of vernal foliage, is changed into yellow, and red 
and violet in autumn. The lily and the rose 
are clothed in such resplendant dyes that many 
devote their lives to doting on their beauty. We 
find Divine Life more or less absorbed by all 
human beings. In nature, like species, produce 
the same. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or 
figs of thistles? Cultivation often improves the 
original, where things exist below a degree of 
perfection ; so that by the application of study, 
care and labor, we may be able to produce a lar- 
ger variety, and a more perfect fruit, with a 
greater yielding capacity. It is even so, also, 
with Divine Life. The promises of God were 
to Abraham, and his children after him, forever, 
so I am led to believe, that Heaven will be 
peopled with the descendants of the Christian 
parents, who in their turn, must be responsible 
for those who come after them. I can conceive 



12 THE DOOR OPENED. 

no departure from this order of things upon the 
hypothesis, that all human lives have in their 
Being the elementary principles of Divinity. 
An imperfect link in the chain of spirit life 
would be disastrous to the plan of the Great 
Divine power, so to my mind every human 
Being must be capable of attaining unto Eternal 
Life, in the presence and favor of God. 

In the vegetable kingdom, botanists tell us, 
the fruit bearing condition depends upon a cer- 
tain affinity plants and trees have for each other ; 
so it is with Divine Life. No man hath seen 
God at any time ; the relation of the human to 
the Divine is such, that we can not see Him in 
Person and live. The refulgence of his Glory 
would radiate through the corruption of the 
flesh, 'till our house of clay fall down beneath 
its load of sin, and with the crumbled clods make 
up that dust from whence it came. But, that 
the breath of life immortal does exist in every 
human form, there can be no question. Thus, 
while we are not permitted to see God, in per- 
son, we are enabled to recognize his essential 
attributes, or elementary principles, which go to 
make up, by their combination, that Perfect 
Being. 

As a Creator, He maketh all things by the 
word of His power ; as a Ruler, He exercises 
dominion over the works of His hands ; as a 
Father, He makes provision for, and maintains 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 1 3 

His creation. His wisdom is too great for human 
understanding, and 3-et Ave have intelligence, 
and our minds are capable of great development. 
With each convulation of the brain we are cap- 
able of developing wonderful profundities of 
knowledge ; this is why the human family differ. 
Every one may not become an expert in every 
branch of learning, but many men, who have 
dug for the precious pearl of great price, have 
found it ; so on every side we are compelled to 
acknowledge a superior. But intelligence is an 
attribute of God, so if we would look for Divine 
Life of a high order in men, we must look for 
intelligence. 

Before the Christian era, Religion consisted 
largely of obedience through fear. At the time 
when Christ was upon earth, and throughout the 
first century, when men were greatly enlight- 
ened, by association with, and memory of, the 
Good the Saviour came to bring ; the conception 
those had of God who knew Christ personally, 
having committed their knowledge to writing 
for the use of future generations, these have 
been, and are, as they ever shall be, a great 
power in developing the Divine principle in the 
lives of men. Following the first century, and 
down to the time of the Reformation, and even 
down to the present century, the mind of man 
was steped in ignorance and vice, till there ex- 
isted scarcely any intelligent conception of God 



14 THE DOOR OPENED. 

at all, Hence it was that idolatry, superstition, 
and astrology held such universal sway over the 
minds and actions of men. 

When the Declaration of Independence was 
framed, so as to give life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness, mind was given free speech, 
thought and action ; when Yale College was 
founded, in it was laid a bed rock of Divine Life 
on this American Garden of God. The leaders 
of the world in mind development instituted our 
God given system of Free Schools. 

If we but look at things, as they exist to-day, 
in the development of spirit life, through mind, 
as this Christian civilization progresses under 
the leadership of a church, which first educates, 
and then christianizes, we will find that import- 
ant institution revealing God in man. 

It seems to me, that no matter by what vari- 
ous means we may attempt to describe the New 
Birth, to be a Christian unto Eternal Life, we 
must have an intelligent conception of God. 
Blind devotion will never magnify or praise the 
bountiful Giver of life, or render acceptable ser- 
vice to Him who knows our thoughts, before we 
give expression to our souls. 

Under the different degrees of light, spirit 
life in the world beyond will exist under many 
tints and shades of glory and perfection, still 
capable of endless improvement. However, it is 
impossible for us to ever gain equality with our 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 1 5 

Creator ; but one thing is sure, we will, in the 
endless cycles of Eternity, surpass in ourselves, 
our present conception of God. The especial 
object of considering this subject, is to to learn, 
if possible, by what means spirit reception may 
take place, and to follow the development of 
Divine power in this life of ours. It seems that 
after the first faint spark of spirit life is im- 
planted in our Being, an enemy has also come 
in, if possible, to destroy the germ of life. If 
we but stop to consider, we will see, that many 
children enter upon life with very little prospect 
of developing the higher elements of Being. 
Following out the idea, that like begets like, we 
find the soul oppressed with hereditary charac- 
ter. Habit is a great factor in the development 
of the soul ; vice in every form intermingles to 
vitiate the nobler qualities of life. As the flesh 
depends upon the things that support the natural 
man, for reconstruction as well as sustentation, 
so the soul depends largely upon its own inate 
tendencies of mind for its existence and develop- 
ment. The science of Phrenology investigates 
the faculties of the mind, and reveals the truth 
that" those faculties have different degrees of 
power, as well as various degrees of development 
to begin with, so that it is not difficult, for one 
acquainted with this science, to foresee the prob- 
able future character of the individual examined. 
The natural tendencies of mind depend largely 



1 6 THE DOOR OPENED. 

upon the influence one faculty has over another, 
and as there are many faculties brought into 
activity, as various subjects present themselves 
to the mind for consideration, the results are as 
various in different individuals. So we have the 
old time saying: "many men, of many minds." 
The mind is a law of justice unto itself, which 
is universal in action, so that minds are classi- 
fied, and we distinguish them as men of good 
judgment, while others are not possessed of this 
useful and happy combination of faculties. 

In the square forehead we see great reason- 
ing ability ; in the long forehead we recognize 
the generous mind ; in the lofty crown we dis- 
tinguish the devotional tendency of soul ; while 
the broad crown indicates a large development 
of the moral faculties, and the head which is all 
behind the ears will be all animal, while on the 
other hand the head that is all in front of the 
ears will have no common sense at all ; thus, 
while we admire the intellectual, we must not 
expect the Law of Justice, which sets equity 
between the faculties, to stand aside, lest men be 
alltogether out of balance. If the head be too 
thick between the ears, the man will be too sav- 
age for good society, and if too thin, he will be 
without the courage of his convictions, and so 
we conclude that justice demands that develop- 
ment be general in the faculties which best be- 
fits men to occupy the various positions and cir- 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 1 7 

cumstances of life, in complacency and peace, 
both for themselves and those with whom they 
come in contact in business, the Church and 
society. 

There is no doubt, however, that some indi- 
viduals have a better chance in the world than 
others, to grow up into that which constitutes 
the truly noble Being. It is but natural then to 
suppose, that the children with intelligent 
parentage will have minds of keener perception, 
and so also, will children of devotional or moral 
parentage have like faculties developed in them. 
The individual possessed of these noble qualities 
of mind must evidently rise above his less for- 
tunate acquaintances ; such a one will find 
beauty in color, and pleasure in looking at every- 
thing in nature. As he studies the dewdrop, its 
crystaline globule will reflect upon his mind a 
world of tranquility and purity ; association of 
thought will reveal the character of God, and 
his soul, inspired with rapturous delight, feels 
the tingling thrust of joy ascending up in praise 
to Him who gave us Being. 

God in man has been the mystery of ages. I 
may not know by what process the flower ab- 
sorbs the sunlight, but I readily see the beauty 
of the flower. Neither can I understand the ex- 
act way by which God develops in the human ; 
but this I do know, that we are so constituted, 
that if we seek wisdom and purity, we shall have 



1 8 THE DOOR OPENED. 

it. Spirit stops at no unopen door or walls of 
flesh. Spirit gravitation draws the sonl toward 
its Maker at all times, and down through that 
same chain of love God pours the life-giving 
principle of soul power, enlarging, developing, 
purifying, and sanctifying our spirits, which are 
His in time and eternity. 

What refreshing draughts of spirit power 
come through prayer. The communion of the 
soul with its Maker so strengthens the real char- 
acter, that the evil tendencies of our nature are 
broken down and overcome, 'till in reality the 
predominating power of our Being is God ; as 
He says in His words: "I will dwell in them, 
and walk in them ; and I will be their God, and 
they shall be my people." A great many people 
seem to think that the evils of this world are of 
no use whatever in accomplishing the purposes 
of God in the life of man ; but that is a great 
error. We are creatures of liberty, creatures of 
choice. The various phases of vice present 
themselves to our minds with all their miserable 
consequences, in such a way, that their crushing 
terrors drive us by force to seek a Father's pro- 
tection and love. 

What horrid forms can sin assume, 

'Till we detest, despise and hate, 
The very thought that makes our tomb, 

And settles man in sin's estate. 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 1 9 

Refines our souls with holy love, 

While spirits blest, may join their power, 

Companions here, of God above, 

And blessings fall, a constant shower. 

Around thy form, unfelt, unseen, 

He clasps His tender, loving arm, 
Ten thousand snares, he stands between, 

To keep the soul through ev'ry storm. 

Then why not lift your eyes above 

The low'ring clouds of sin and shame? 

There reigns in Heav'n a God of love, 
Whose love will always be the same. 

Along thy pathway, treach'rous sands, 
Alike unknown to thee are strewn, 

O'er these He holds you in His hands, 
All unnoticed and unknown. 

In heav'nly garb of lustrous light, 

Effulgent beams of love Divine 
Break through the folds of deepest night, 

And o'er your sorrows sweetly shine. 

Much has been said about the Soul. What 
is it? " God breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, and man became a living Soul." 
I do not believe that that soul, or any other, of 
the human family, existed prior to that time. 
The breath, however, is neither the life, or the 
soul, but is the agency of God, to start into ac- 
tion those functions which sustain life. The blood 
is not the life, but without it we can not exist ; 
neither is the heart the tabernacle of God, as it 
is often spoken of, to conform with that prevail- 
ing idea which men have of the indwelling place 
of God. Human action can not take place in- 



20 THE DOOR OPENED. 



voluntarily, but requires the will power trans- 
mitted to the parts by the nerves of the body ; 
but the nerves are not the Soul. What, then, is 
it ? If I can find words with which to clothe my 
ideas, I will at least make it plain to my own 
mind, with the hope that it may also be plain to 
the mind of the reader. 

The life of God, or power of self-sustenta- 
tion, entered into the body of clay through the 
medium of the breath, being the very life itself ; 
transformed the body of clay into the various 
functions which are necessary to sustain life in 
the flesh, and put those functions into operation, 
directing and disposing those operations, and 
opposing all other obstructing or destructive 
influences. 

This supreme principle in man is the Soul, 
which we sometimes signify by the words Life, 
Heart, Mind. Therefore, the mind, which is the 
soul, complete in all its parts, is that which has 
an eternal existence. The heart is more than 
the hand, but nothing more than the pumping 
engine of the body. When that pump misses a 
few strokes, the life of the body ceases, but the 
mind goes on forever in evolutions both wondrous 
aud sublime. 

If then the mind, by its inate power, is en- 
abled to reconstruct and enlarge or develop itself 
into a state of higher existence, continually 
reaching outward and upward, toward the per- 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 21 

fection and power of its Creator, what a glorious 
destiny must greet its eternal existence. The 
avenues by which God enters the life of man 
will need some description here. We are sur- 
rounded by circumstances of various degrees of 
light or shade, which is thrown upon these 
spiritual highways. 

When mother taught me how to pray, 
There opened out for God a way, 
Within my life to find a place, 
Where he could dwell in love's embrace. 

And when He found my heart of stone, 
He built himself a royal throne ; 
The whole dominion, his control, 
A King of Love, within the Soul. 

So it is, that the omnipresent God will give 
direction to the operation of mind approving the 
right thought, by making us happ}^, and con- 
demning the wrong, which brings us to grief. 
I do not believe, that Satan can ever overcome 
the influence of a Christian mother, who trains 
up her child in the love and fear of God. There 
is no irresistable temptation comes to such a 
child, for it has learned to say no ! My God says 
no ! ! I can not do it ! ! ! Prompt, energetic, de- 
termined, the soul has conquered the foe. 

Each victory gives new strength to character. 
The child grows up in a few short years, but the 
soul develops through along and tedious process. 
Experience in the battle of life gives a fixed 



22 THE DOOR OPENED. 

sphere of action, and the pnrsnits in which we 
are engaged, and the circumstances by which we 
are surrounded, and the social scale in which we 
move, helps to give decision to character; mak- 
ing an impression here and there, tends to change 
our habits, and ofttimes to bring us into posi- 
tions of doubt and perplexity with regard to 
right or wrong, until we fail to either listen to, 
or hear, the faithful monitor of God in the soul. 
The people who live in large cities, or their sub- 
urbs, become so familiar with crime, Sabbath 
desecration, and vice in all its forms, that even 
a funeral train can make no lasting impression 
on them ; but the spirit of Christ stirs the soul 
in the hour of solitude and silent thought. 
What strides we take as our vision goes out in 
the shades of night, and over the dark valley, 
and up to the open door which John saw. "Be- 
hold ! I have set before you an open door, and no 
man can shut it." What a comfort to the soul 
is that, as it thinks of temptation, and evil in- 
fluences and companions that pull at and hinder 
our progress in the right. The spirit of Fallen 
Angels crowd our way, blinding our eyes, and 
attracting our attention to get us to listen to 
them, and believe what they say. 

Creeds and ceremonials often help us to lose 
sight of the Truth, and often to forget God ; for 
how often do men get to quarreling about this, 
or that, to the great satisfaction of Satan, who 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 23 

is always delighted at dissentions in the Church. 
Pilgrims' marsh is a dirty place to get into, and 
a hard place to get out of. Bunyan's picture is 
the experience of many a one, and if we will just 
stop to think, we will realize at once that the 
only way to be happy is to seek the true, the 
pure, the good of the Fountain of Life. To sit 
in silent thought, to wonder, love and praise, 
with holy theme, must give the soul a peace 
which nothing else affords. To see in God per- 
fection, power and majesty, inspires the soul, 
and draws around us all the hallow of His pres- 
ence, and the nobler elements of Being leap for 
joy. As water in a body is composed of many 
separate drops that move, the one within the 
other, in and out, and round and through ; so the 
spirit of God assimilates with our spirit, until 
it can be said that God is in us. That the spirit 
of God does open the door of our lives, and walk 
in, can not be denied, and He will not leave us 
if we let him control our Being ; but He says, in 
His word : " A house divided against itself, will 
fall." And again: "What communion hath 
light with darkness?" By this we understand 
that spirits, to be able to dwell together, must 
be of the same nature. 

If God is the chief object of our affection, we 
will endeavor to reform our lives to conform 
with that perfect life of God, which was shown 
us in Jesus Christ ; a life which was given a 



24 THE DOOR OPENED. 

sphere of habitation, with a name to live, and a 
death to die, that we might know one perfect 
humanity, whose end is unto life everlasting, in 
the presence and communion of the Author of 
All Being. 

To the one who delights in the study and 
practice of higher life, the rivers of God's love 
flow in and, out and round and through, refresh- 
ing, purifying and beautifying both the 
life and the soul. What majesty of thought, 
what sublimity of action, and what ecstacy of 
soul have they "whose mind is stayed on Thee." 
To do His will is their delight, nor ever thought 
a painful duty. To labor comes a just reward; 
to pray for this, or that, the soul has need of, is 
to want. " He satisfieth the desire of every liv- 
ing thing," and of his Angels, he says, " are they 
not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
unto them who shall be the heirs of salvation? " 
Let us seek that wisdom which is from above, 
that we may know Him, who, to know, is life 
everlasting. 

It is very strange, indeed, that the spirit of 
God can enter into the soul of man. Being born 
of the Spirit is the act of Divinity ascending 
the throne of the soul, as law giver and judge. 
These bodies of ours are but the receptacle of 
the Spirit ; the heart pulsates to maintain ani- 
mal life, but behind all this is the impelling 
power of the human soul. Death is a legal divorce 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 25 

of the soul from the body. What does the soul 
care for this tenement of clay, only just so far as 
it answers the purpose to carry out the various 
enterprises and pursuits that engage the atten- 
tion of men. We take no note of the constant 
change going on in our physical constitution ; 
but to see, to hear, to feel, are the open doors 
through which knowledge and wisdom, joy and 
peace, harmony and holiness enter the soul. 
To overcome the spirit of evil, we need only 
close the door when Satan seeks to enter. 

There are many means by which the true 
life enters. It is possible to keep the doorway 
so crowded with spiritual supplies, so as to give 
no opportunity for evil to get in. The church, 
the school, and the home are producers of good, 
with no admixture of evil, and I am sure the 
spirit of life exists abundantly upon these three 
highways of holiness. Did we but understand the 
receptive ability of the soul, we would, no doubt, 
undertake to supply our spirit life with all its 
needs ; if we have no feeling, no perception, no 
harmony in our Being, we may rest assured we 
are not feeding the name of life. There are a 
great many people who seem to have very little 
light, very little strength, and no hope at all ; 
this is why Paul spoke of the one star exceeding 
another star in brightness. 

It is plain to be seen that the development of 
Divine life requires constant watching and con- 



26 THE DOOR OPENED. 

stant toil. Christ said : " Go ye unto the vine- 
yard, and work." If we wish a life alive with 
Divinity, we must cultivate the mind in such a 
way, that nothing will hinder its growth ; to do 
this, it is necessary that we be faithful in watch- 
ing, lest an enemy enter into our house and 
spoil our goods. The power of Satan and the 
power of Christ antagonize each other all times 
wherever man is found. Both these are contin- 
ually battling to get possession of our souls, in 
order that our bodies may minister to their 
wants, or do their bidding. If we give the field 
to Satan, we will go down in the final ruin and 
be condemned forever ; but if we yield to Christ, 
our way will be lighted with a lamp that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day. If we are 
led by the Spirit, the sun of righteousness will 
shine upon the way before us. 

Picture to yourself a highway of holiness 
reaching from earth to heaven, and you ascend- 
ing the long, high hill, step by step. To a 
stranger the way might seem lonely, but it is 
not, for we are not alone. We are the children 
of God, and these bodies are the tabernacle of 
God ; God in man, walking, talking to men, 
saying I will never leave thee or forsake thee. 
Alive with Christ, with Christ alive in us, we 
walk as sons of God. The power within, en- 
chanted with the theme of sins forgiven, goes on 
rejoicing ; nature's volume opens wide her boun- 



THE DIVINE IN THE HUMAN. 27 

teous store, and all we see or seek to know is 
God. At every step new beanties rise ; each, 
day onr joy with glory shines, 'till, looking up, 
we see reflected back upon our souls the perfect 
image of our God. 



CHAPTER II. 

SUBJECT : REVELATION. 

It must be clear to the mind of every one, 
that the mission of the Scriptures is to reveal 
God to man. Man is a religious Being by nature. 
There is something Avithin him that makes him 
feel the need of support from some source out- 
side of and beyond the circumference of the 
sphere of human activity. Man's conception of 
power that is above his own, associates with that 
conception ; the idea of form, activity, intelli- 
gence, majesty, and life. The reason for this is 
plain, because he has his place as a link in the 
chain of Being, and, looking backward from his 
plane, he finds retrogradation, step by step, until 
he arrives at the lowest order of animal life. He 
stands not in the middle of the chain, but near 
one end. It is perfectly natural then for him to 
understand that if one direction is downward, 
the other must be upward. So man reaches out 
into the dark be}^ond for something like him- 
self, } T et of a higher grade of intelligence and 
perfection. If he looks at nature in its marvel- 
ous beauty and grandeur, he is enabled to feel 
the assurance that there is a Supreme First 
Cause that is superior to himself. So there he 



REVELATION. 29 

stands at the gateway between time and eternity 
to get a glimpse of the Infinite ; round and 
round, in one continuous whirl of deep and dark 
confusion, but for that gateway in which he 
stands. That gateway between death and life is 
the Revelation of God to man by His own 
Holy Word. 

It were not possible to question the mission 
of that Book, when its first declaration forever 
silences the philosophy of man. " In the Be- 
ginning God created the heavens and the 
earth ;" a declaration which no process of reason- 
ing could have unfolded. Here is living, eternal 
light from God to man. That word has no need 
of defenders to attest its Divine Truth ; there is 
no where for man to go, there is no where that 
men do go, but to the word of God for instruc- 
tion. God's word is revelation; revelation is 
God's word, whether seen or heard. The blue 
dome of heav'ns arching canopy speaks in thun- 
der tones ; the trembling earth breaks forth in 
echoes from within ; the mountain heights point 
out a throne, while whole niagaras of praise roll 
down their rugged sides. 

What mind, convulsed amid creation's grand- 
eur, could not find a higher life, a nobler Being 
than himself to honor and adore. Within the 
fountains of his Truth, what forms of beauty 
can be found, what types of life, what shades of 
sadness, clouds with silver lining, what streams 



30 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of joy, what songs of gladness, and what wails 
of woe; what light, clear, radient, beaming. 
Well may we pause to wonder while we hurry 
through the hallowing scenes that meet our 
anxious view. A ray of light sent down to 
earth from One, an only Son of Righteousness, 
will focus in the camera of the soul, a shape and 
shade, perfected form of spirit life we call a God. 
Just turn that instrument around to righteous 
Abel, and take a picture of his altar of devotion ; 
a lamb upon that altar, bleeding, will show that 
injured innocence must repay the justice of a 
broken law. A voice still crying through the 
ages speaks from heaven: "This is my beloved 
Son." Between the first man (Adam), and the 
second (Christ), 4000 years have intervened. 
Through all these years mankind have lived and 
died, each filling his appointed place and time, 
e'er crumbling into dust. What each one felt, 
or saw, or knew, is sealed within the silence of 
the past, except enough to draw a line from 
Eden up to Calvary's brow. I stop in wonder 
here to take a look upon the portrait of mankind. 
I can not tell where the world would be to-day, 
had there never been a Bible. Types and forms 
of all we need is there contained, and its value 
can not be overestimated. It is a part of God's 
revelation. After its first declaration that "in 
the Beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth," it would be folly to suppose that man 



REVELATION. 3 1 

could have no accurate knowledge of his Creator. 
If we were to forget the story of Eden, we might 
still get some idea of God and His government. 
There is nothing which we see or think about 
but that points back to a time when such a thing 
had a beginning, and to a time before it had a 
beginning. The life of a plant or a tree may 
come within the short space that is allotted to 
man to live, so that he may remember the time 
when a particular object had no existence, but 
he knew its origin. We have no difficulty in 
tracing the human family back to a time when 
it had a beginning, but beyond that time we can 
not conceive, unless we conclude that many 
worlds beside our own afford a home for the 
creatures of creation. It may be their inhabit- 
able period antidates our own, and, for my part, 
I think it not improbable. But what the scale 
of Being is, mankind can never know. We can 
not soar away while we are in the clay ; we can 
not imagine a scale of being higher than our 
own; we do not believe there is a lower, who 
dwell in the tenements of clay. A life to live, a 
death to die, a mind to think, a soul to save, is 
all our thoughts engage. All that man can do 
is found in the fact that he had a beginning, but 
how or when, he could not know. 

Adam never saw the first sentence of our 
Bible, he never heard those words. I said forget 
the story of Eden, which says " God walked and 



32 THE DOOR OPENED. 

talked with. Adam." Had such a thing never 
occurred or been recorded, our first parents, and 
we too, must have known the law of God. 
Adam must have known there is a God, what- 
ever else he might have called that Being who 
gave to man existence. He doubtless thought 
he had an earthly father, but looking round he 
found himself alone, the sole existence of his 
kind, and, looking at himself, he knew full well, 
did not exist by chance, for all around were signs 
of other life, controlled harmonious to his will, 
all suggestive of a higher power still than he. 
From morning dawn 'till close of day he could 
but look, and think, and wonder, 'till he knew 
and felt within himself the presence of another 
Life. He felt its power, and must have owned 
a Universal King. The good and evil side by 
side, on every hand, he saw, he knew. The Rose, 
that beautiful and sweet unfolding, hung upon a 
thorny stem, would teach him what to let alone ; 
a choice to make between the things that came 
to hand. The bitter and the sweet, of things 
repulsive or desirable, he knew enough to choose. 
A right and wrong on every hand, within him- 
self he felt ; our common sins were all unknown 
to him ; he knew no temptations like our own, 
except to bate authority that ruled against his 
will ; a little sin, we count at this late day, where 
everything we do is under law. He was head 
over all things but God, and knew his place full 



REVELATION. 33 

well, but rather chose himself to rule, defying 
all authority; hence, his sad end. And yet a 
noble man, whose folly brought on us the cold 
embrace of death. His lips that sipped the cup 
of joy, were made to curse his God. His help- 
meet seemed another self he loved too well to 
love another more, and doubtless helped him to 
conclude himself the monarch of the earth. 

His independence felt no want 'till nature, 
drooping, died, and made of him a son of toil. 
This taught the man a lesson that 'twas better 
to obey, so turning round, he taught his sons to 
pray. In all these experiences he was shown at 
least three things concerning God : first, that 
God is good; second, that God is just; and 
third, that God is merciful ; for he received the 
promise, that in a later da} r , a day appointed, 
God would give to earth another copy of Him- 
self, who would not sin, but by his life undo the 
evils of mankind. 

Adam's first-born was like himself, a son of 
sin. This taught the man his true condition, 
and I think this brought him to repentance. I 
think it safe to say that it took Adam twenty- 
five years to learn his real position toward his 
Maker. He had two sons, but only one that 
served the Lord, and that was righteous Abel. 
Adam did not know that any considerable num- 
ber of people would live upon the earth. I do 
not think he understood the purpose of our 



34 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Lord with regard to his descendants. He believ- 
ed that the seed of a woman shonld bruise the 
serpent's head, as God had told him; because 
when a son was born to our first parents, he said 
" we have gotten a man from the Lord." Doubt- 
less he regarded him as the one who should 
bruise the serpent's head, but a } T ear later, when 
Cain's brother was born, Adam thought he was 
mistaken about the promised son, so he looked 
forward for the fulfilment of God's first promise. 
He was now a fallen creature, and therefore, he 
could not talk with his Creator as he could be- 
fore he disobeyed. He must now learn as God 
is pleased to reveal Himself to him. He remem- 
bers his own happy condition before the fall, and 
fully realizes his present misery. He knows 
that he can not disobey and be happy. He is 
now experiencing the effect of his disobedience. 
No man can be happy except his life harmonize 
with the law of his Creator. These two sons 
are to be his object lessons; he has had two 
kinds of experience, and knows very well which 
of these two are the most desirable, so he in- 
structs his sons out of the book of his remem- 
brance. 

Cain and Abel grow up to manhood. The 
one is a man of honest purpose, a man that feels 
the need of the blessing of God ; tender in feel- 
ing toward the flock that he tended. The inno- 
cent look of the lamb reflected upon his mind a 



REVELATION. 35 

picture of true virtue ; he could not swear or 
fret or growl, because he knew a better way. 
But Cain, a tiller of the ground, had all his 
thoughts looking downward, and when they 
brought before the Lord an offering seeming 
mete, the Lord was pleased with only one ; the 
free will offering God received, the other He 
cast aside. It were folly not to suppose that 
Adam knew which of these two boys were most 
obedient to his God. The flocks of the one in- 
creased without number; the ground did not 
yield its increase to the other; success attended 
the one, and failure the other. Their father re- 
members the Garden with sadness. I do not 
know which one of these two boys have done 
the world the most good ; the purpose of God is 
accomplished in both; the one seems as neces- 
sary as the other. 

The Lord brings good out of evil. The more 
we think of our sins, the more we learn of God's 
mercy and love. With evil around us on every 
side, we seek to avoid it ; but often an evil ap- 
pears to be good ; we take it, to try it, to know 
for ourselves. I think the fact that Cain was 
very low and mean, had much to do with Abel's 
better nature. The world divided in two classes, 
the righteous and the wicked, seems to be a 
means, unto an end, God's purpose to fulfill. 
Cain was a murderer, and all his ways were in 
the serpent's trail ; Abel was the victim of his 



36 THE DOOR OPENED. 

villain}' . Cain found a wife in the land of Nod. 
If we suppose him to have been driven from the 
presence of the Lord by his sins when he was a 
young man, perhaps of twenty years of age, 
then going into a far country, and living perhaps 
twenty-five or thirty years without returning to 
visit his kinsmen, many of whom he had never 
seen or heard of, having followed, unbeknown to 
him, into the land eastward of Eden, no doubt 
a large community was formed who were all 
strangers to him. There is no doubt but that he 
selected a wife from among these. We must 
not forget that one hundred and twenty-eight 
years elapsed between the birth of Abel and the 
birth of Seth, no mention of which is made in 
the Scriptures, except the general statement 
that Adam begat sons and daughters, and that 
Cain went into the land of Nod, where he knew 
his wife. There was no marriage law at this 
time, except that a man should choose a wife. 
We have no further mention of Cain in the 
Scriptures, except an occasional mention of his 
wicked ways. This is enough, I am sure, to ex- 
plain who his wife was, without attempting to call 
her by name. It may have been Evaline as well 
as any other name, for names were scarce in that 
early day. 

One hundred and thirty years passed by 
when Seth was born into the family of Adam. 
The time has come when men begin to call upon 



REVELATION. 37 

the name of the Lord. True worship has begun. 
How much men knew of God, the record does 
not say, but I suppose they learned whatever 
Adam knew. The race is now divided, and the 
lines are drawn distinctly. In the land of Nod, 
where all are wicked, the sons of Seth could 
never go. 

As time drew on, the race brought forth a 
man whose name was Enoch, who walked with 
God, and was not, for God took him. The 
former revelations were all concerning God, but 
now mankind are taught that man may live 
some other where beside on earth. We do not 
know who witnessed his translation, or how it 
came about, or where ; but by it man has learned 
of life this earth is not the end. How much of 
sadness at the tomb, were this our final rest. How 
much mankind divined of heaven we do not 
know; but Enoch walked with God on earth, 
and then went into heaven. 

Nine hundred and eighty-seven years are 
passed from the beginning of time. In the year 
ten hundred and fifty-six Noah, the son of 
Lamech, was born, and he became a man of God 
who found grace in the sight of the Lord. In 
his six hundredth year, and in the sixteen hund- 
red and fifty-sixth year (1656), when men had 
become so very wicked, God sent a flood upon 
the earth. The waters covered the deep, and 
all the hills were hid, and Noah's family of crea- 



38 THE DOOR OPENED. 

tion only, of all that drew the breath, remained 
alive. God walked and talked with the first 
man on earth, bnt not again 'till Noah's time. 
When Adam was six hnndred and twenty- two, 
Bnoch was born. Adam lived 930 years, while 
Enoch only lived 365 years, having departed 
this life in the year of the world 987. God's 
revelation to man in all the years seems to have 
been in the hands and hearts of these two men. 
Following this time for a period of 451 years, 
God seems to have had no advocate on the earth, 
and man had become so degraded, sensnal and 
devilish, that God purposed to destroy them 
with a flood. Now this act of mercy on the 
part of God seems hard to us, but when we re- 
member that thousands upon thousands of child- 
ren were growing up only to follow the way of 
the world, when we know these all to be brought 
to eternal youth and life in the presence of God, 
His goodness and mercy is very apparent. And 
beside this, He called Noah to be a preacher of 
righteousness for 120 years. Men were so 
hardened to sin and its consequences, that they 
gave little heed to his warning voice. The in- 
fluence of Noah did not reach outside of his own 
little family of eight persons, except those who 
were given a less miserable end before the waters 
came. We can not imagine the perils and suf- 
fering of those around whom the waters rose 
higher and higher, what hunger and want and 



REVELATION. 39 

fear must have attended their last days. Those 
who escaped this dreadful death were given a 
more happy end. 

How much God expected of those who lived 
before the flood would be hard to imagine by one 
living in this age of enlightened reason. It 
seems to me that these people who knew, ap- 
parently, so little of God, will not have to ren- 
der a very strict account ; but when we remem- 
ber their great age, compared with our brief 
allotment of time, it may be that they knew as 
much of God as we do, and if this were true, 
we stand upon the same plane of accountability. 
If there be seven heavens, each to suit a differ- 
ent age of the world, I believe the Antediluvians 
to be fitted for the first heaven, and yet not all, 
but only those who tried to live a Godly life. 

The rain from heaven has descended upon 
the evil and the good alike. The Lord sought 
to win men to obedience by punishment it seems, 
but they would not yield. The fear of God will 
make some men better. Later on He began to 
show his mercy by sending blessing upon bless- 
ing to the unworthy children of men, in order 
that through these deeds of love He might be- 
get in man a love for his Creator. 365 years 
after this, God spoke to Abram, the son of 
Terah and uncle of Lot, in Ur. of the Chaldees, 
saying : " Get thee out of thy country, and from 
thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto 



40 THE DOOR OPENED. 

a land that I will shew thee." So Abram de- 
parted according to God's direction, and Lot 
went with him into the land of Canaan. God 
told Abram that he shonld become a great Na- 
tion ; that the blessing of God shonld be npon 
all those who blessed him, and the cnrse of God 
npon all that cnrse him ; that in him shall all 
the nations of the earth be blessed. In the plain 
of Moreh, beyond Sichem, he bnilt an altar, and 
the Lord appeared nnto him again and said : 
" To thee, and thy seed, do I give this land." 

The time came when the land where Lot and 
Abram dwelt wonld not snstain all the cattle of 
these two men, so Lot went East, to the plains 
of Jordan, a beantifnl valley with running 
streams of water. Abram dwelt in the land of 
Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Jor- 
dan, and pitched his tent toward Sodom, whose 
men were very wicked. The kings of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, with several other kings of this 
valley, engaged in a war which seems to have 
been very general. At this time Lot lived in 
Sodom. When the city was taken, Lot, with 
all his goods, was carried away a prisoner. 
Abram was apprised of Lot's nnhappy situation, 
and went to his relief. He armed his servants 
(about seventy men), and pursued the captors, 
and overtaking them near Damascus, he got Lot, 
the women and all the goods, and returned by 
the way of Jerusalem, where Abram was well 



REVELATION 4 1 

known. Upon his arrival here, Melchisedek, 
king of Salem ( Jerusalem), brought forth bread 
and wine. He was the priest of the most High 
God, and he blessed Abram. Then came the 
king of Sodom, and wanted Abram to give 
him the persons and keep the goods himself, but 
Abram refused to take anything, because he 
had lifted his hand to the most High God. 
Then God appeared to him in a vision, saying : 
"Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy 
exceeding great reward." Abram was now liv- 
ing in Hebron. Then he had no children, but 
the Lord took him out to look at the stars, say- 
ing: " If thou be able to number them, so shall 
thy seed be." And he believed the Lord, and it 
was counted unto him for righteousness. Then 
the Lord said: "I am the Lord that brought 
thee out of the Ur. of the Chaldees to give thee 
this land to inherit it." Abram wanted to 
know how he should know that he inherited it. 
Abram prepared a sacrifice, as God directed, 
and at evening, when the sun was going down, 
a deep sleep fell on him ; then God said : " Know 
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in 
a land that is not their's, and shall serve them, 
and they shall afflict them four hundred years ; 
that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, 
and afterward they shall come out with great 
substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers, 
and be buried in a good old age ; but in the 



42 THE DOOR OPENED. 

fourth, generation they shall come hither again." 
Abram awoke in the darkness, and saw a 
smoking furnace and a burning lamp pass bet- 
ween the pieces of his sacrifice, for he had 
divided it in two pieces. This same day God 
made a covenant with Abram, saying: "Unto 
thy seed have I given this land from the Nile to 
the great river Euphrates. Ten years later God 
made another covenant with Abram. God 
spoke to him, saying : "I am the Almighty God ! 
walk before me, and be thou perfect." Abram 
fell on his face, while God talked to him, say- 
ing : " M} r covenant is with thee ; henceforth thy 
name shall be Abraham; I will establish my 
covenant between me and thee, and thy seed 
after thee in their generations, for an everlasting 
covenant ; to be a God unto thee, and thy seed 
after thee." So after all the conditions of this 
agreement were fully understood, the Lord went 
up from Abraham. 

In the course of time three angels appeared 
at the tent door, and the Lord spoke to Abraham 
about the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah ; 
then they went toward Sodom. The Lord said 
if there were ten righteous in the city he w T ould 
not destroy it ; but two of the angels came to 
Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of 
Sodom. Lot invited them into his house to stay 
over night. They appeared like good men, and 
he extended his hospitality to them, made them 



REVELATION. 43 

a feast, and they stayed with him. A mob sur- 
rounded the house, and raised such a disturbance 
that Lot went out, and when he had shut the 
door, entreated them to go away ; but they were 
not satisfied. They wanted to see the strangers, 
and were about to break the door down, when 
the angels reached out their hands and pulled 
Lot in ; at the same time they smote those out- 
side with blindness, so that they could'nt find 
the door. The angels asked Lot if there was 
any in the family beside those present. God 
had sent them to destroy the city, and they 
wanted him and all his family to get out of it. 
So Lot went to his sons-in-law to tell them, but 
they made light of his entreaty, and would not 
go with him to his home. In the morning, early, 
they arose, and took Lot, his wife, and his two 
daughters, and hastened them out of the city. 
God rained fire from heaven on Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and destroyed them both with all their 
inhabitants. Lot was slow about starting; but 
his wife looked around (with Eve's curiosity) to 
see if it were really true that God would destroy 
the city. For her lack of faith she turned to a 
pillar of salt. By this time Lot was ready to do 
whatever the angels commanded. 

When Abraham was a hundred years old, 
God's promise of a son was fulfilled to Sarah in 
her old age. In the course of time the Lord re- 
quired Abraham to go to one of the mountain 



44 THE DOOR OPENED. 

heights of Moriah, and offer his only son Isaac 
as a sacrifice unto God. You will remember how 
that God provided a sacrifice when Abraham's 
faith had been fully tested. As he lifted the 
knife to slay his son, an angel caught his arm. 
No wonder his faith was counted to him for 
righteousness. It is needless to say that God's 
revelations to Abraham pointed him to his whole 
duty. I think that he fully understood the 
character of his Creator, after all the visitations 
of angels, and the promise of a son to their old 
age, which came in due time, and then the pur- 
pose of this trying injunction must indeed have 
made a deep and lasting impression on the mind 
of Abraham. He halted not to obey, even 
though his heart were breaking. 

To us this sacrifice of an only son might ap- 
pear as a shadow of the sacrifice offered once for 
all on Calvary's mountain. Whether Abraham 
viewed it in this light, or not, I can not say, but 
I am sure he felt his nearness to his God. 

At forty years of age, Isaac married Rebekah, 
the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, the 
brother of Abraham. Their first children were 
twin boys, Jacob and Esau. As the Lord re- 
vealed Himself to Abraham and Isaac, so did 
He to Jacob ; for he saw Heaven opened, and a 
ladder reaching from earth up to the opened, 
door, with angels descending and ascending, and 
wrestled with the angel there 'till the breaking 



REVELATION. 45 

of the day, and would not let him go until a 
blessing was bestowed upon him. 

Abraham died in the year of the world 2123, 
being 175 years old. Isaac lived 180 years. He 
had been married twenty years, and was 60 years 
of age when Jacob and Esau were born ; so these 
boys were 15 when their grandfather died, and 
120 years when their father died. Here were 
three generations living at one time upon whom 
God successively bestowed His blessings, and to 
each of whom he gave the same promises. God 
spoke to them continuously, saying: " In thee 
'shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 
God appeared to Jacob in Bethel ; here he re- 
newed his promise of the land of Canaan to him 
and his children after him. Here Jacob's name 
was changed to Israel. Here, in Bethel, we 
record the birth of Joseph, the twelfth son of 
Jacob, and the death of Jacob's wife, Rachel, in 
the 1 20th y ear of her age. 

This historical reference may seem to have 
no place in this exposition of revelation, but I 
think it proper to note these facts while we pass 
along the times and places when and where God 
spoke to his representatives on the earth, for by 
their testimony we received the promises of God 
which were made to Abraham, and his children 
after him, in their generations. It may be well 
to note that all the true followers of Christ are 
heirs to these same promises. The Christian 



46 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Church to-day consists of all God's people, to- 
gether with their children. It is a matter of 
deep significance, therefore, to us who have a 
hope in our high calling in Christ Jesus. 

Jacob seems to have been under the direct 
control of God. In his dream, where he saw 
the ladder with angels ascending and descending 
from earth to Heaven, with God standing in the 
open door at the top of the ladder, he heard a 
voice from thence, saying: " I am the Lord, God 
of Abraham, thy father (spiritually), and the 
God of Isaac ; the land whereon thou liest, to 
thee will I give it ; I am with thee, and will 
keep thee in all places whither-so-ever thou 
goest." I don't think it any wonder that a man 
who received such promises should make it his 
chief aim in life to glorify God and enjoy Him 
forever. Jacob was a true worshipper of the 
true God. In this dream, or I would better sa} r 
in this God- wrought mental activity, he saw and 
felt the presence of the Lord; his startled ear 
attentive heard the very voice of God ; he saw 
the way from earth to Heaven ; the means b} T 
which we may ascend ; he saw the celestial city, 
he viewed the passers-by in robes of spotless 
white. This dream taught him that there is an- 
other life, the immortality of the soul, and that 
man's place is in the presence of his God. He 
built an alter here, where he slept, and said: 
"This is the house of the Lord, and the very 



REVELATION. 47 

gate of Heaven." This place is called Bethel. 
This last promise, which I have mentioned, was 
perhaps the first promise of God to Jacob, and 
was made seven or eight years before he was 
married to Rachel, who died here in Bethel. 

I have preferred to separate the spiritnal 
from the natural as far as possible, hence this 
apparent disorder of the narrative. Lest the 
reader should think I have forgotten part of my 
story, I will say that the peculiar circumstances 
of the birth of Jacob and Esau were such, that 
Isaac regarded Esau as the one upon whom the 
blessing of God should come ; but Rebekah re- 
garded Jacob as the first-born, so that, as we say, 
Jacob was his mother's boy, while Isaac favored 
Esau. The mother was right, however, as the 
history shows, and, although Isaac was much de- 
ceived in bestowing his blessing upon Jacob, 
whom he was made to think was his very son 
Esau, a God works in a mysterious way his won- 
ders to perform." Between these two sons we 
have a parallel not alltogether unlike that of Cain 
and Abel. Esau sold his birth-right for a mess of 
potage, which shows that he thought more of 
his stomach than the blessing of God. Jacob, 
after he received his father's blessing, just be- 
fore Isaac died, was compelled to flee for his life, 
as Esau had threatened to kill him ; so he went 
down into Syria. When he came to the place 
where he had laid down to sleep the first night 



48 THE DOOR OPENED. 

(Bethel), God appeared to him, as recorded be- 
fore, and spoke such encouraging words to him, 
that he at once resolved to follow all His lead- 
ing. Just think of him fleeing for his life, be- 
coming exhausted, falls asleep on the ground, 
dreams, sees, hears: " The land whereon thou 
liest, to thee will I give it ; I am with thee, and 
will keep thee in all places whither-so-ever thou 
goest." Is it a wonder that he was ever after a 
man of God ? He went down into Syria to his 
relatives to get a wife, in obedience to his father's 
wishes that he should not take a wife from the 
land of Canaan. He served Laban seven } T ears 
for Rachel, but Laban deceived him in giving 
Leah instead. Then he went on and served 
seven years more for Rachel, but during these 
seven }~ears he had two wives, for the simple 
ceremony of marriage took place twice in one 
week. The Lord gave Laban prosperity on ac- 
count of Jacob, but after Laban failed to keep 
his promise the first time, all his prosperity fell 
to Jacob, because the Lord was with him. They 
arranged a scale of wages that Jacob was to have 
for his services. Certain kinds or colors of the 
flocks were to be for Jacob as pay. After that 
agreement was made, all the increase of the 
flocks were of those particular colors, which, of 
course, was not very satisfactory to Laban. So 
God spoke to Jacob again, and told him to take 
all that he had and go back to Canaan, and 



REVELATION. 49 

added: "I will be with thee." By this revela- 
tion he learned that God would take care of and 
provide for his true followers. He left the place 
at once with all that he had, and came and 
pitched his tent before the city of Shalem. 
Here he bought a field and erected an altar. 
Here God spoke to him again, and directed him 
to go to Bethel and build an altar to the God 
that appeared to him there when he fled from 
Esau. He got into trouble in Shalem, becanse 
when he came ont from Laban's honse, his wife 
took her father's images along with her. These 
images were kept in the family, and brought 
him to grief, although Jacob knew nothing about 
their being in the family until after he began to 
look about for the cause of his trouble. So he 
commanded: " Put away the strange gods that 
are among you, and be clean, and change your 
garments, and let us go up to Bethel." A 
daughter's honor lost seems to be the price of 
broken law, and though no commandment had 
been given (for this was before the Law), Jacob 
had written on his heart with the finger of God : 
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 
Here God changed Jacob's name to Israel. 
Here in Bethel, at this time, Rachel died, and 
the same year Isaac, his father, died also in the 
year of the world 2228. Jacob was born in 2108, 
and was therefore 1 20 years of age when Rachel 
died. Rachel's first-born, Joseph, the twelfth 
4 



50 THE DOOR OPENED. 

son of Jacob, never felt a mother's tender care; 
but Jacob had a cop}' of the first he loved so 
well, deceived, he served so long to gain, to this 
sad end, where death so oft doth forge the 
strongest chains that bind us to the Promised 
Land. Here is an instance of prayer with the 
answer deferred throughout ten } T ears, constant, 
pleading, persistent; to what end but an ex- 
change of a life for a life on earth God's purpose 
to fulfil. 

Seventeen }^ears of time roll by. We see no 
mention of dreams as a revelation before Jacob's 
time, but for some time afterward God revealed 
himself to men in this way. When Joseph was 
seventeen 3-ears old he dreamed that he and his 
brothers were binding sheaves in the field, and 
his sheaf stood up and his brothers' sheaves 
made obeisance to his sheaf. This he told the 
boys, and it taught them that he should reign 
over them. He dreamed again that the sun, the 
moon, and the eleven stars made obeisance to 
him. He told his father and brothers this 
dream also, and the}^ understood by it that the 
whole family were to be under his authority. So 
the boys made up their minds to get rid of him. 
Little did they think that they were the instru- 
ments of God in carrying out His purpose con- 
cerning them ; but their father pondered it in 
his heart. Here was the beginning of the 
chain of events in connection with the children 



REVELATION. 51 

of Abraham serving in a strange land. "And 
they shall afflict them four hundred 

YEARS."'' 

Joseph was sold into Egypt; bnt God was 
with and so prospered him, that he became rnler 
over all that Pharoah had. Joseph's father sup- 
posed that he had been killed, and mourned him 
as dead. A famine came in the land of Canaan, 
so they went down into Egypt to buy corn, 
which they had gotten without money, as they 
found when they returned, that their money 
with which they had paid for the corn was put 
in the sacks along with the corn. This they had 
received from him whom they had treated so 
cruelly; but in a year or so they went back 
again, those eleven boys, with their father and 
mother, and were given presents and pasture 
lands for their flocks, and fields for cultivation, 
and were well supplied with everything they 
needed to make them comfortable and happy. 

From all that I can learn of Joseph, he was 
a man of deep conviction, and an instrument in 
the hands of God. In him I see the first per- 
sonal .type of Christ the world had ever known. 
The offering of Isaac by Abraham which the 
angel prevented taking place, may have been a 

NOTE. — This affliction did not begin for thirty years after 
they went into Egypt, and ended when they came out, 430 years 
after they went down there to live ; in the fourth generation, 
meaning the great grandchildren of the twelve sons of Israel, 
shall come out. 



52 THE DOOR OPENED. 

shadow of the sacrifice on the cross ; but here is 
a stonger type, a living individual sent of God 
to save his people from an awful death. It is 
very natural to suppose that Jacob knew that 
the descendants of Abraham were to serve an- 
other nation for a period of four hundred years, 
but human nature always places unpleasant ex- 
periences as far in the future as possible ; so 
Jacob doubtless did not see anything that led 
him to believe that he might expect to share in 
in that destiny. The revelations of God are not 
always seen in their true light. Sin so often 
obscures the vision, that it is impossible to see 
the purpose of the Lord. Had Jacob known 
that Joseph was alive, and that he had gone 
down into Egypt and into the position which he 
occupied subsequently in the house of Pharoah, 
he could have divined the true interpretation of 
the dream ; but his other sons had deceived him 
(which was very easy to do in his old age) about 
what had become of Joseph, so he did not see 
any revelation, but waited for new developments, 
which, however, came very soon. 

It was about fifteen years after Joseph went 
into Egypt that the famine became distressing 
in the land of Canaan. There was nothing left 
for the people to do but to go down into Egypt 
or starve to death. Jacob saw this distress all 
around them, and when he went down into 
Egypt to live, and found his long lost son, whom 



REVELATION. 53 

he supposed to have been dead, great joy crowned 
his declining years. He died in his 147th year, 
having lived 17 years in Egypt. During his 
last days and hours he prophesied, telling his 
sons what should be the course and character of 
each in their generations ; but upon the sons of 
Joseph he left the promises and blessings which 
God gave unto Abraham and unto Isaac, his 
father. 

Here we find two prophecies concerning 
Christ: "The scepter shall not depart out of 
Judah until Shiloh come." "Joseph is a fruit- 
ful bough ; from thence is the Shepherd, the 
stone of Israel." The prophecies foretold the 
position one tribe should occupy toward another, 
the general character of each, and their destiny. 
That God revealed this to Jacob, there can be 
no doubt, for his delineations of cast, character 
and life did not have reference to anything that 
should transpire during their sojourn in the land 
of Egypt. 

Joseph was thirty years of age when he was 
made Governor of Egypt. The circumstances 
which led to his exaltation were peculiar. After 
first ' serving Potiphor, of the royal household, 
with great ability and success, he was unjustly 
charged with a crime which was revolting to his 
sense of youthful purity, and although he was 
as innocent as a child of that with which he was 
charged, yet he was cast into prison where he 



54 THE DOOR OPENED. 

was kept two full years. Here God gave him 
renewed power in the interpretation of dreams. 
As I have before stated, God made Himself 
known to man in visions of the night. Joseph 
was in the prison with two others who dreamed, 
and he gave the interpretation that one of the 
men should be restored to his former position in 
the house of Pharoah, but the other was to be 
hanged. In a few days these things came to 
pass according to his words. By and by Pharoah 
dreamed that, as he stood by the river, seven 
fatfleshed kine came up out of the river, and 
after them seven lean and illfavored kine came 
up out of the river, and the lean and illfavored 
kine ate up the first seven that came up. He 
told his dream to Joseph, who, as soon as he 
heard it, said the seven fatfleshed kine are seven 
years of plenty, and the seven leanfleshed are 
seven years of famine which were to follow the 
seven years of plenty. The astrologers could 
not interpret this dream. God chose to place 
Joseph in a position where he might help his 
people in a strange land. The children of Israel 
were all provided for 'till after Joseph's death; 
but when another Pharoah went on the throne, 
who did not know Joseph, the Israelites were 
servants indeed, until they went out of the land. 
The birth and bringing up of Moses seems 
to show that God was preparing him for a spe- 
cific work. In Mount Horeb an angel appeared 



REVELATION 55 

to Moses in a name of fire ont of the midst of a 
burning bush. The bush burned, but was not 
consumed, and Moses stopped to look at this ex- 
traordinary sight. God spake to him out of the 
midst of the bush, and said: " Moses, Moses! 
take off thy shoes ; the place whereon thou 
standest is Holy ground." Then He told him 
of the affliction of His people, and gave him 
full direction how to bring them out of the land. 
He showed him signs to do before Pharoah, to 
show him that he was sent of God to bring his 
brethren out of the land. Moses did not think 
that he would be equal to this great task, and 
tried to get out of going by making excuses ; 
but God told him to take his brother Aaron with 
him to be his spokesman, and go to Pharoah and 
ask him " to let My people go." " I will be with 
thee ; Aaron shall be to thee as a Prophet, and 
thou shalt be to him, instead of God." 

Were I writing a history of Moses, I would 
say that he was in God's stead to His people ; a 
saviour and mediator. We can not comprehend 
the depths of his knowledge and foresight when 
he was imbued with the power of the I Am, 
which sent him to lead God's people out. 

Nine plagues were not enough to make 
Pharoah repent of his sins to the God of 
Heaven, but when the death angel passed over 
the land, he was willing to do anything God 
wanted him to, so he hasted the people out of 



56 THE DOOR OPENED. 

land. Pharoah had seen his own people suffer, 
while God took care of the Israelites, and he 
knew their God to be greater than am 7 god of 
the Egyptians ; but after they had gone, with 
all their possessions and the golden ornaments 
which they had borrowed from the Egyptians, 
Pharoah pursued them down through the land 
lying between the two arms of the Red Sea, 
expecting to overtake and destroy them. This 
called for the interposition of the Mighty God. 
When Aaron's rod came down on the sea, the 
waters stood upright as a heap, while 600,000 
men, beside women and children, passed through 
between the walls, on dr}^ land ; but when Pha- 
roah and his hosts were in the way, the sea 
swallowed them, the waters covered them, every 
one. The Pillar of cloud by day, and the Pillar 
of fire by night, was over the Israelites, for a 
guide to them. By it God led them in all their 
journey, a shade from the torrid sun by day, and 
light for defense by night. When the cloud 
moved in any direction, the people followed it; 
when it stood still they pitched their tents. 
When the people complained of Moses for 
bringing them out, as the} 7 said, " to die in the 
wilderness," because the Egyptians' chariots of 
Avar were in pursuit, Moses said: "The 
chariots and horsemen ye see to-day, ye shall see 
no more forever; wait, and see the salvation of 
God, for He will fight for us." (This was before 



REVELATION. 57 

they passed through the sea.) Then Moses 
called on God, forgetful of his own God-given 
authority and power. For this the Lord rebuked, 
him, saying: " Speak ye to the people, that they 
go forward, and when ye come to the sea, stretch 
out thy rod over it, and divide the waters, that 
the people may go through the sea on dry land." 
This time the cloud went and stood behind them. 
It was night when they began the march to the 
sea. The cloud was thick darkness to Pharoah's 
army, that they could not see the Israelites going 
away; but on the other side, the cloud was a 
great light for God's people. Well, truly, might 
Pharoah have said : He hideth himself in a pa- 
villion of darkness, while to his own people He 
led in a chariot of fire. Once again out of the 
sea, Moses and his people looked back, only to 
see the Eg3 r ptians coming through the same 
passage. What fear they felt, I leave for your 
imagination to surmise, but God said to Moses : 
" stretch again thy rod over the sea." The 
watery Avails gave way, and covered them ; not one 
escaped to the shore alive. God takes care of 
his own people, and none shall hinder. Although 
he stayed the proud waves, " thus far shalt thou 
go, but no farther;" his object to deliver his 
people affected, "I will have mercy upon whom 
I will have mercy," he removed his special hand ; 
to the waves he said, " pursue thy way, roll on." 
A people fighting against God in the wrong. 



58 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The sea covered them in following its own conrse 
to the south. God had no part in their destruc- 
tion. They did not think of God or ask pro- 
tection. Had they stopped -to consider a long 
journey between two walls of water, they should 
have known the sudden destruction that awaited 
them when once the waves were stayed no longer. 
On the sands of the beach their bones bleached 
in the torrid sun. As Israel viewed the dead 
where the sea cast them out, great fear came up- 
on them. From that time on the Israelites 
knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 
is the true God, and beside Him there is no 
other. They believed Him and Moses, His ser- 
vant. They were happy because God had de- 
livered them out of their bondage and out of 
the hand of Pharoah, so they sang the song of 
Moses, which you will find recorded in the book 
of Exodus, 15th chapter. 

That so vast a multitude should start out in 
a country generally regarded barren, is to my 
mind an exhibition of faith that has no parallel 
in human history. Three or four millions fol- 
lowing the Shechina that led them, without a 
thought of what should become of them, except 
depending on God for sustenance. What city 
in the United States could supply their daily 
needs ? New York, Cincinnati and Chicago, all- 
together, could not house them, and yet they 
journeyed on in the trackless desert — in a land 



REVELATION. 59 

where there were no cities, no farms, no pro- 
visions. They journeyed three days in the wilder- 
ness ; not one of them knew their course, not 
one of them knew their destiny. What hopes, 
what fears, what woes, what tears, is not given 
us to know; yet we may surmise that they 
thought, sooner or later, to reach the land of 
promise. That they did not eat during these 
three days, I would not say. It seems probable 
that their flocks went with them out of Egypt, 
that they would be provided with meat and per- 
haps milk, but people can not subsist on these 
alone. They became thirsty, and complained to 
Moses. They came to a well called Marah 
(meaning bitterness). They could not drink 
the water until Moses sweetened it with the 
branch of a tree, which he threw into it. Do we 
not mark here the revelation of the fatherhood 
of the Great God, who daily loadeth us with 
benefits? What unspeakable joy must have 
thrilled their hearts as they slaked their thirst 
in a dreary land; what mighty chorus broke 
forth in song of praise; what shouts of joy 
rang 'out from happy hearts, we can not know, 
we can not hear ; what love for God was born 
anew, we wait the Resurrection morn to tell. 

On this eventful occasion their leader assured 
them, that if they would hearken diligently un- 
to the voice of the Lord, and do what is right 
in His sight, and keep His statutes, and give 



60 THE DOOR OPENED. 

ear to His commandments, none of the afflictions 
which came npon the "Egyptians shonld come up- 
on them. They came to Elim, where were twelve 
wells of water and seventy palm trees. From 
this place they took their jonrney to the wilder- 
ness of Sin, which is between the valley of 
fountains (where they had been) and Sinia, on 
the fifteenth day of the second month from the 
time they went out of Egypt. Just two months 
had gone by, and they were tired of living on 
flesh. They complained to Moses, who took the 
matter to God. The Lord heard their cry, and 
gave them Manna from heaven. It fell in the 
morning with the dew, and covered the ground 
in such abundance as to be sufficient for all. It 
was white, like frost, and in round grains about 
the size of the Coriander seed. It answered 
them for bread. At evening, quails came and 
fell, stunned, around the camp in great numbers ; 
so that bread came in the morning, and flesh in 
the evening. They were given direction by the 
Lord, through Moses, for gathering the Manna. 
Moses said: " Six days shall ye gather it, and 
on the sixth day ye shall gather enough for two 
days, for none shall fall on the seventh day." 
Some gathered more than they needed, but 
Moses said, "let no one keep it 'till morning." 
Some kept it, however, but it had worms in it 
and stank. When they baked on the sixth day, 
they left part of the Manna for the Sabbath, 



REVELATION. 6 1 

and it kept good. Some went ont on the Sab- 
bath to gather it, which displeased God, so he 
commanded that every man shonld stay in his 
place on the seventh day. The children of Israel 
did eat Manna for forty years, nntil they came 
to a land inhabited ; nntil they came to the bor- 
ders of the land of Canaan. 

What record of time the world had before 
the Lord made known the days of the week, I 
do not know ; bnt in this bread from heaven we 
have the record of God that the time is fixed, 
and the day on which no Manna fell is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord, from the creation of man, 
which He had sanctified to Himself, saying: 
"In it ye shall do no work." I snppose this 
day, on which no Manna fell thronghont the 
forty years of their sojonrn, to have so impressed 
mankind with the fact, that the seventh day is a 
day for rest, a day of service to God, as to for- 
ever fix in the calender of nations the nnmber, of 
the days of the week; for, I believe, that in 
recording time, it has been demonstrated 
thronghont the centuries, in the annals of all 
nations, that there can be no disagreement about 
which is the seventh day. 

That God has fully persuaded mankind of 
His ability to supply all the wants of this life, 
there can be no doubt. The people at this time 
felt the vast difference between them and their 
God. They did not know enough about the 



62 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Divine Character to make any comparison bet- 
ween His natnre and that of mankind. There 
evidently was no trne sense of the Divine love 
and compassion for the people. The fact that 
Moses was instead of God to them, wonld natur- 
ally have a tendency to make them love, fear 
and believe him as God, even to the extent of 
forgetfulness of the true God. That the}^ looked 
to Moses instead of God for the supply of all 
their wants, is self-evident upon the face of their 
history. It does not seem apparent that they 
had any comprehensive view of God's disposi- 
tion to forgive individual sin. They knew their 
shortcomings, perhaps, as well as the people of 
to-day do, but they could not go to Him indi- 
vidually, as we can ; yet every Age has its con- 
ditions of approaching God. The Israelites knew 
the Law, pure and fundamental, and had only to 
obey those few, which were given them to obey, 
that they might receive a full reward. They 
must have felt themselves especially blessed to 
have a leader who could enter into the very store- 
house of God, in order to supply their needs. 
I think they realized the fact that God is unap- 
proachable to fallen humanity, except through 
the mediation of One, chosen for that particular 
purpose. Moses was instead of God to them. 

Now the people took their journey and 
pitched their tents in Rephidim. There was no 
water there. This was near Mount Sinia. They 



REVELATION. 63 

got uneasy and chided Moses, and said: " Is the 
Lord with ns, or not?" Moses smote the rock, 
where God had promised to meet him, and water 
came out for all the people, the cattle and the 
nocks. Water came from the rock which Moses 
smote with his Rod, to prove to the people the 
power and presence of God. 

What unseen fountains burst when God is 
nigh, to slake our thirst. In a dreary land, 
amid burning sand; when the people cry, the 
Lord is nigh. This pent up river of cool water 
never flowed out of the rock at this place before, 
and nothing short of the " mystery of Godli- 
ness" can explain how Moses was led to this 
very place. God takes hold of the hand of His 
people and leads to the fountain of life. While 
they were at Rephidim, the Amalekites came out 
and fought with them. Moses set Joshua over 
his chosen men to fight with Amelek, saying: 
" To-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill 
with the Rod of God in my hand." On the 
morrow, Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the 
top of- the hill, and it came to pass, as the two 
armies fought, that when Moses held up his 
hand Israel prevailed, and when he let down his 
hand Amelek prevailed. When his hands were 
tired, Aaron and Hur stood, one on either side 
of him, and held up his hands 'till the going 
down of the sun ; so Joshua won the victory. 
Then God spoke to Moses, saying: " Write this 



64 THE DOOR OPENKD. 

in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, 
for I will utterly put out the remembrance of 
Amelek from under heaven." Then they moved 
and pitched their tents before Mount Sinia. 
Moses went up, and God called to him out of 
the mountain, saying: " Thus shalt thou speak 
to the house of Jacob and to the people of Israel : 
Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and 
how I bare you on eagles' wings and brought 
you unto myself; now therefore, if ye will obey 
my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then 
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all 
people, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of 
Priests, and a Holy Nation." So Moses came 
and laid this before the Elders, and told them 
all the words of the Lord. Then God said to 
Moses: u Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, 
that the people may hear when I speak to thee, 
that they may believe thee, forever. Thou go 
to the people and sanctify them, and wash their 
clothes, and be ready against the third day, for 
I will come down in the sight of all the people ; 
but set bound for the people, that they touch 
not the mountain, and when the trumpet sound- 
eth long, then come up to the mountain to meet 
God." It came to pass on the third day, in the 
morning, as they stood before the Mount, that 
all over its surface came up smoke, and the 
mountain trembled greatly ; so when the people 
saw the lightnings, and heard the thunders from 



REVELATION. 65 

the cloud upon the mountain, and the trumpet 
sounded loud and louder, that the people in the 
camp trembled, Moses spake and God answered 
him with a voice, and the Lord came down on 
the top of the Mount, and called Moses to come 
up to him. So MoSes went up. Then God sent 
him down to charge the people not to touch the 
mountain, lest they perish, and let the Priests 
also, which come near unto the Lord, sanctify 
themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. 
Then Moses said unto the Lord, " the people 
can not come unto Sinia, for we have set bounds "; 
but the Lord said: " Away ! get thee down, and 
thou shalt come up again, and bring Aaron with 
thee." So he went down and spoke to the people 
and God gave them the Law; but the people, 
when they saw the smoke and lightning, and 
heard the thunders and the Trumpet of God 
sounding, greatly feared and stood afar off. 

After God had spoken all the words of the Law, 
concerning everything which the people should 
follow, and Moses wrote all the words and cov- 
enants' of God, then he rose early in the morning 
and built an Altar with twelve pillars, and as 
the people prepared their sacrifices, Moses took 
half of the blood and sprinkled the Altar, and 
with the other half he sprinkled the people, 
saying: "This is the blood of the Covenant," 
and he read the book of the covenant to the 
people, and they said, "all that the Lord hath 
5 



66 THE DOOR OPENED. 

said we will do and we will obey." Then went 
np Moses and Aaron and Abihu and seventy of 
the Elders of Israel and they saw God. 

I take it that this presence was Michael dis- 
playing the glory of God. The Son of God 
glorified with the glory which he had before the 
world was, came from the throne in his Father's 
kingdom to show the world the Glory of God. 
The presence of glory was the person of Christ. 
No man can see the supernal glory of God and 
live this life. They saw God and he stood as it 
were upon a pavement of sapphire stone, clear as 
crystal, and they did eat and drink before the 
Lord. Then God called Moses up to get the 
Tables of the Law, which God had written, that 
Moses might teach them to the people ; so he 
went up in the Mount, but left the Elders and 
Aaron and Hur to attend to the people. The 
cloud covered the mountain six days, and on the 
seventh, God called unto Moses out of the midst 
of the cloud, and the glory of the Lord was like 
a devouring fire on the Mount of the Lord in 
the sight of all the people. Moses remained in 
the presence of God this time forty days and 
forty nights, and the Lord gave him instruction 
for the people, and statutes to follow, and things 
to do throughout their generations; the estab- 
lishment of Aaron and his sons in the Priest- 
hood before him, their purification, and all the 
ceremony. He was directed to make an ark of 



REVELATION. 67 

the Covenant (a chest abont two by four feet), 
with handles and a crown of gold, wreathed 
around the top, with two Cherubs, one on either 
end facing each other, to overshaddow the mercy 
seat. Here on this mercy seat under the Cheru- 
bims, God dwelt to give blessing and pardon to 
all who came to him through the interposition 
of the Priests of Israel. The purification of 
Aaron and his sons, for this sacred office and the 
sanctifying of the place and the purposes of the 
Ark and the Tabernacle produced a profound rev- 
erence in all the people for God and the place of 
His abode. This profound reverence for the 
places made holy by the sanctifying influence of 
the presence of God has accompanied his people 
in all ages of the world. The dedication of a 
church by the ordinance of God is a sanctifying 
of the place for His worship. The place is made 
holy by His presence displayed in His manifold 
blessings upon the people. The church is estab- 
lished under the Divine Covenant, that " where 
two or three are gathered together in my name, 
there will I be in the midst of them, and that 
to bless." God's house is no place for anything 
that is not conducive to the glory of the king- 
dom of Christ. 

The Tabernacle in the wilderness was a beau- 
tiful structure designed by the Lord, which de- 
sign God gave to Moses in Mount Sinia. This 
place of worship was the first of its kind. The 



68 THE DOOR OPENED. 

rough stones of the valley marked the places 
where God met Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but 
their children were destined to behold a grander 
form of the presence of God, before beginning 
to build him a house in the Zion of the Promised 
Land. The sacrifices, they offered for sin, were 
a type of the shedding of blood by the Son of 
God. Whatever else they knew of the pardon 
of sin, they also knew that there could be no 
remission without the shedding of blood. 
This great multitude of people was one body r 
each one surrounded by the same influences, 
each one subject to the same temptation, and 
each one responsible to the same God. There 
was only one way to receive pardon or blessing, 
and that was in the established ordinance. The 
people were one common people, suffering afflic- 
tion for the sin of a few or receiving blessing 
for the righteousness of many. Thus it be- 
hooved them to follow the directions of Moses, 
that all might receive alike the dispensations of a 
benevolent Heaven. The course they chose to 
take and the consequent affliction they had to 
undergo, left its lesson on the pages of history 
for all the generations of the earth to witness. 
That many of their number laid down the tene- 
ment of clay, to put on spirituality in the city 
of God, we know full well, but that only two 
should live to enter the Canaan of Promise, is a 
revelation beyond our conception. 



REVELATION. 69 

That near three millions should die of one 
people, in the course of their short pilgrimage 
of forty years, seems to re-utter the awful 
warning, " The wages of sin is death" 

The forty days and nights which Moses stayed 
in the Mount were ended, for the Lord sent him 
down to correct the people, who in their lack of 
faith had given him up for lost, and had made 
a golden calf to represent God. When Moses 
came back into camp and saw what they were 
doing, he threw down the tables of the Law 
which God had written and given him for the 
people to live by, and brake them in pieces. 
In his indignation he called, saying: " Who is 
on the Lord's side, come unto me ; " then all the 
sons of Levi came to him and he sent them 
through the camp, with their swords, and there 
fell that day about three thousand men. They 
were told to slay every man, his son, or brother, 
or neighbor, and they did so. Moses spoke to 
the people saying, " consecrate yourselves this 
day to the Lord, that he may bestow a blessing 
upon you." Then he returned to the Lord to 
confess the sins of the people, and to plead for 
their forgiveness. As he pleaded for pardon, he 
said: "If thou will't not forgive their sin, then 
blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou 
hast written." And the Lord said: "Whoso- 
ever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out 
out of my book; therefore, go now, lead the 



70 THE DOOR OPENED. 

people into the place I have spoken of nnto 
thee, and I will send my angel before thee." 
God was displeased with this stiff-necked people, 
and wonld not go in the midst of them bnt sent 
his angel. Moses moved the Tabernacle ontside 
of the camp and called it the Tabernacle of the 
Congregation, so that every one that sought the 
Lord might come out there. When Moses went 
out, the people stood in their tent door and 
watched him. He went in the Tabernacle and 
the cloud came down and stood at the door, and 
the Lord talked, speaking in the cloud, to Moses. 
Then all the people that stood in their tent 
door, rose up and worshipped. " The Lord spake 
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to 
his friend." — Exodus 2, 3-1 1. Then Moses said 
to the Lord, "Show me the way, and who shall 
go with me." He answered, "My Presence shall 
go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Moses 
said, "Show me thy glory." God told him that 
he could not see his face and live ; but He said, 
"There is a place by me, and thou shalt stand 
upon a rock. While my glory passes by, I will 
put thee in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover 
thee with my hand, while I pass by, and I will 
take away my hand, and thou shalt see my hinder 
parts, but my face shall not be seen." So in the 
morning Moses went up on Alt. Sinia and the 
glory of the Lord came about him, and on the 
two tables of stone which he had prepared, God 



REVELATION. 7 1 

wrote the ten commandments and gave them for 
the people ; and Moses came again to the camp, 
and the skin of his face shone, that the people 
feared ; then he declared the zvhole counsel of God 
which the Lord commanded him to write in a book. 
At this time the people worshiped the God of 
Heaven. The Tabernacle, the tent of the con- 
gregation, the table for the show bread, the Ark 
of the Covenant and all the vessels of the 
sanctuary, the Priesthood established, the 
Cloud over the Tabernacle by day and his Glory 
lighted it by night ; so all things that the Lord 
had commanded were made, and all ordinances 
established, and all the words of God recorded. 
Then the Cloud of God stood over them, and 
when it moved they followed it, and when it 
stood they pitched their tents ; so God led them 
in all their journey. Moses returned to the 
Lord in Mt. Sinia and stayed their forty days 
and forty nights, and God taught him the whole 
history, and so impressed it upon his memory 
that he was enabled to commit that whole word 
to writing at the Divine Command. The ten 
commandments God wrote again, with his own 
finger, which two tables of stone, written on 
both sides in the languages of the Israelites, 
Moses brought and put in the Ark of testimony 
which they carried with them into the land of 
Canaan. This peculiar people so vexed Moses 
with their idolatry and transgressions of law 



72 THE DOOR OPENED. 

that his burden was heavier than one should 
bear, so he cried to God for help. No matter 
what we may believe about the unchangeable 
decrees of God, his independence and ability to 
enforce obedience, it is plain to us as we study 
the revelation of God, that the Divine Purposes 
are subject to the will of men. As we look at 
God's dealing with this stiff-necked people, and 
see how entirely God gave up to Moses the right 
of judgment, we can not but say that the honest 
purpose to do that which shall exalt his God, is 
capable of staying the visitation of His right- 
eous wrath on those who do evil. It seems to 
me, that these two talked together as friend to 
friend, each counselling for the good of man and 
the glory of God. 

No man has ever stood where Moses stood, 
none knew His will so well. We have so much 
recorded that shows how God bends His will to 
the desires of those who love Him, that he seems 
to be humanly divine in all His sympathetic 
nature. We can but adore His infinite great- 
ness, goodness and mercy. To relieve Moses of 
this great burden, he called seventy Elders from 
among his people, and transmitted to them a 
part of the spirit of power which was upon 
Moses, that they might be counsellors for the 
people, and when the Elders were not able to 
settle matters with the people, then they brought 
the matter to Moses. On these seventy, God 



REVELATION. 73 

poured out the spirit of Prophecy, and it came 
to pass, as they journeyed from Sinia, that they 
got into trouble all the way. At one time they 
were bitten by serpents, and every one that was 
bitten, died, 'till Moses made a brazen serpent, 
and set it up on a pole for the people to look at. 
This was a time of great distress to Moses, be- 
cause he felt that God had sent the serpents 
among them because of their sins. 

When Moses divided his responsibility with 
the Elders, he also divided his insight to the pur- 
poses of God, because he divided the power of 
his spirit between seventy men, and he became 
weak spiritually. He was mistaken in his judg- 
ment this time because God did not send the ser- 
pents to the Isaelites, but the Israelites zvent to the 
the place where the serpents were, in their own 
place, and many were bitten and died. What was 
to be done to save the people from death must 
be done quickly. As God would separate the 
guilty from the innocent, as many as looked upon 
the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up lived. 
This object lesson in faith tested their loyalty 
to God, for Moses said, "If ye will look at this 
serpent, then ye shall live," and when the peo- 
ple looked, they lived, but those that were bitten 
and would not look, died. This present salva- 
tion, when God gave life, for a look, was his 
victory over Satan, for by sin once in the ser- 
pent came death to every man by the disobedi- 



74 THE DOOR OPENED. 

ence of one. So here, by maity serpents man}^ 
were mortally wounded but not for sin, not at 
the hand of God, but for glory to satan by the 
hand of the serpent ; but God to bring deliver- 
ance at this time from temporal death, lifted up 
the brazen serpent ; that by one look at this 
particular thing, the}^ should once obey and be- 
lieve God that He might give them life. This 
act of lifting up the serpent, signified the death 
of the serpent in the world, and also that God 
could provide a means by which the people might 
be saved from the consequences of disobedience 
to His law. This great affliction came upon the 
people in the fortieth } T ear of their pilgrimage, 
just before entering the land of Promise east of 
the Jordan in Idumae, about 145 1 years B. C. 
This same year Moses appointed Joshua to lead 
the people into their inheritance. After rehears- 
ing the Law and the Covenant he warned them 
against taking up the customs of the idolatrous 
people of the land before them, pronounced the 
blessing of God upon them, and then died. In 
a few days the people passed over Jordan 
into the Promised Land. Of those that came 
out of Egypt, only two, Caleb and Joshua, went 
into the land which the Lord promised to Abra- 
ham so long ago, saying: " Unto thy seed will I 
give this land." The seventy of Jacob's family 
that went into Egypt became near three millions 
when Moses led them out, now near four millions 



REVELATION. 75 

when Joshua led them to the land flowing with 
milk and honey. 

Through the lapse of twenty-five centuries 
we have marked the foot-prints of God. We 
have seen the form of Jehovah. As we look 
back over this flight of the ages, we contemplate 
with wonder the infinite love of the Infinite 
God. Under the cloud of His mercy we stand, 
to call upon God, that on us may descend the 
dew of His mercy from Heaven. As we stand 
on the shores of time, we look over the river of 
Life. Into this stream have been poured the 
elements of Eternal Life. Out of this stream 
we may draw life clear as crystal. I look, and 
lo, upon this mirrored sapphire sea is reflected 
the image of the One Alltogether Lovely. In 
its crystal depths we behold the Pearl of great 
price. We hear in the voice of its many cata- 
racts the song of the Ransomed at home. The 
Lord, our God and King, the Lamb, speaks over 
this silvery sea, " Come unto me, come unto me." 



CHAPTER III. 

IN THE PROMISED LAND. 

The people go into the Land led by the angel 
of God, which gave them victory over all the 
people against whom they went up to battle. 
After the death of Joshua they took up the 
customs of the idolatrous people of Canaan, till 
God withdrew his presence from among them. 
They followed their own inclinations, inter- 
mingled their family relations, became an idola- 
trous multitude, and all suffered alike the un- 
happy consequences of their evil doings. The 
sword of slaughter followed all their way, 
and the earth drank in the life blood of millions. 
Instead of leaders who governed according to 
law, they were given judges who had very little 
of the spirit of God and the people found no 
peace. From the blood stained pages of the 
history of the children of Israel, we must learn 
that there can be no peace to those who rebel 
against God. What mighty conflicts, what 
slaughter of women and children, what flames 
of destruction have marked the way of the 
wicked. There was no longer an open vision of 
God. No light shining in the dark places ; there 
was none upon whom the spirit of power fell to 
76 



REVELATION. 77 

any great degree through all these years, yet the 
Lord has never ceased to hear the cry of his 
people when they pray for deliverance. 

When Ahab was king, the sun had gone 
down on the days of five hundred years, 
since Israel entered the land. Ahab was a 
worshiper of Baal, and had 450 Prophets. 
The worshipers of the true God were only seven 
thousand of all the people of Canaan, when by 
the mouth of Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhab- 
itants of Gilead, God proclaimed a famine, 
saying: "There shall be no dew, nor rain, these 
years, but according to my word." At this time 
God directed Elijah to go and hide himself by 
the brook Cherith (near Jericho) saying: "It 
shall come to pass that thou shalt drink of the 
brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed 
thee there." He did according to all the word 
of the Lord, and the ravens brought him bread 
and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in 
the evening, and he drank of the brook that is 
before Jordan. It came to pass after awhile that 
the brook dried up because there had been no 
rain in the land. 

Is seems that Jezebel, Ahab's wife, occupied 
her time trying to establish the worship of Baal 
in Samaria. Her father was the king of Tyre 
and Sidon. She maintained four hundred priests 
of Astarte, and did all she could to exterminate 
the worship of the true God. But now, that 



78 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Elijah could not live here by the brook any 
longer, he was directed to go up to Zarephath, 
and there a widow woman sustained him about 
three years, for God supplied them meal and 
oil. While he was here the widow's son died 
and Elijah prayed to God that his life might 
return, so the Lord did according to the word of 
Elijah. In the third year the word of the Lord 
came to Elijah, saying, "Go show thyself to 
Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth," for 
there was a great famine in the land. Ahab, 
the sixth King of Israel had sent men to all the 
fountains everywhere to find grass to save the 
life of his domestic animals. Obadiah had hid- 
den one-hundred of the prophets of the Lord in 
two caves, fifty in each, when Jezebel was killing 
the prophets, and he was feeding these with 
bread and water. As he went through the land, 
he met Elijah and spoke to him, so Elijah 
promised to see Ahab that day and kept his 
word. When Ahab wanted to know if it were 
he, Elijah, that brought the trouble on Israel, 
Elijah told him that it was because of his 
idolatry. He told Ahab to bring the 450 
prophets of Baal and the 400 priests which 
Jezebel had, to Mt. Carmel, so Ahab sent and 
gathered them together, and Elijah said, "How 
long halt ye between two opinions, if the Lord be 
God, follow him, but if Baal, then followhim ;" but 
they made no reply, then he said, " I even I only, 



REVELATION. 79 

remain, a prophet of the Lord, but the prophets 
of Baal are 450 men. Let them give us two 
bullocks, and let them choose one for them, and 
let them cut it to pieces and lay on the wood, 
but put no fire under it, and I will dress the 
other bullock and lay it on the wood and put no 
fire under it ; and call ye, upon the name of y our 
gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord, 
and the God that answereth by fire let him be 
God." To this all the people agreed; so the 
prophets of Baal called upon their god till noon, 
but he did not hear, and Elijah mocked them 
while they called upon their gods. In the after- 
noon, about three o'clock, they were still crying 
and cutting themselves with knives, but their 
gods could not answer; then Elijah took twelve 
stones and made an Altar, and digged a ditch 
around it, and put twelve barrels of water in the 
trench and on the wood and on the Altar ; then 
he called on the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Israel, to answer by fire, that the people might 
know that the Lord is God, and that they might 
know that God had sent him ; then the fire came 
down and consumed the sacrifice and the stones 
and licked up the water ; and the people said : 
"The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God;" 
so the people killed all the prophets of Baal. 

Now this man of God told Ahab, that there 
was a sound of abundance of rain. The same 
day the wind blew, and the clouds covered the 



80 THE DOOR OPENED. 

sky and their was a great rain. Jezebel songht 
to take Elijah's life but lie fled to Beersheba in Ju- 
da, where he left his servant, and went on alone a 
day's journey into the wilderness where he 
prayed God to take his life. He felt that he had 
finished his work on earth and was now ready to 
die, but when he laid down much fatigued with 
his long journey, and the anxious fear of his 
situation, he fell asleep, and while he slept an 
angel touched him and said, " arise and eat," and 
when he had eaten and drank he laid down again. 
The angel had a cake on the coals, and a cruse 
of water, so he said to Elijah the second time, 
" Arise and eat, because the journey is too great 
for thee." And he went in the strength of that 
meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, 
the Mount of God (Sinia). Here the Word of 
the Lord came to him, saying : " What doest thou 
here Elijah?" (Note here that God knows the 
name of his servant.) 

The scenes that met the view of the children 
of Israel when Moses was in the Mount, were in 
a measure reenacted ; fire, wind, quaking, and a 
still, small voice spoke, saying, " Go, return by 
the way to the wilderness of Damascus, and 
anoint Hazael, to be king over Syria, and Elisha, 
the son of Shaphat to be a prophet in thy stead, 
and Jehu shalt thou anoint to be king over 
Israel." So he came and found Elisha plough- 
ing Avith twelve yoke of oxen, and Elijah passed 



REVELATION. 8 1 

by him, and cast his mantle upon him. So after 
he had killed a yoke of oxen and broiled them 
and given to the people, he followed Elijah and 
ministered unto him, and when the Lord would 
have Elijah taken up to his reward, they were in 
Gilgal. Then they went down to Bethel, for 
Elisha persisted in going down with him, and 
the sons of the prophet came out to Elisha and 
said to him, "knowest thou that the Lord will 
take thy master away to-day?" and he said, "yea, 
I know it." Elijah said to Elisha, " Tarry here, 
I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jer- 
icho," and he said, " as the Lord liveth and as 
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." So they 
came to Jericho. Here the sons of the prophet 
that were at Jericho, asked Elisha if he knew 
that his master was to be taken away to-day, and 
he answered, "yea, I know it; hold your peace." 
Then they went to Jordan and fifty men of the 
sons of the prophets went, and standing afar off, 
watched them, and they too stood by Jordan. 
Elijah, took his mantle and smote the water and 
they were divided and they went over on dry 
ground. When they were on the other side 
Elijah asked Elisha what he should do for him, 
and he answered, " let a double portion of thy 
spirit be upon me." Elijah told him that if he 
should see him when he was taken up it should 
be so, but, if not, then it should not be so, and 
they went on and talked ; and behold ! there ap- 
6 



82 THE DOOR OPENED. 

peared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and 
parted thern asnnder and Elijah went np by a 
whirlwind into heaven ; and when Elisha saw it 
he cried, " My Father! My Father! the char- 
iots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" and 
he saw him no more ; then he rent his own 
clothes in two. He took up the mantle that fell 
from Elijah and came to Jorhan and smote the 
waters saying, " Where is the Lord God of Eli- 
jah?" and the waters divided and he went over 
on dry ground ; and when the sons of the proph- 
ets which watched them, saw him come, they 
said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on him, and 
they bowed themselves to him. 

It is well worth our time to take a glance at 
this illustrious man as we go along that we may 
consider the purpose of God as revealed in the 
life of Elijah. We notice here that God has not, 
at any time in the past, left himself without a 
witness in the earth. By some overpowering, 
superhuman influence God puts it into the minds 
and hearts of some men to feel the necessity of 
looking into the secret chamber of an overruling 
Providence. It has been the experience of men 
in all ages that when they seek after God they are 
led to success, as he says in his word, "I will be 
found of them that seek after me." I need not 
say anything to convince my reader that it is 
true ; so these good men, led by the spirit of 
God, have sought after a more perfect knowl- 






REVELATION 83 

edge of God. They knew by the history, they 
knew by what they had heard, that the Supreme 
Ruler of all things holds the destiny of nations 
as well as individuals in his hands, that he de- 
mands obedience to his laws and that disobedi- 
ence brings upon man the evil consequences of 
violated law. They recognize the fact that righ- 
teousness brings prosperity to nations and vice 
versa, so they are moved out of a sense of the 
goodness of God to lift their voice for the good 
of mankind. It was this divine impulse that led 
men, who sought to find out the will of God, to 
establish schools for the study of the Word. In 
Jericho, Bethel, Gibeah, Naioth and Gilgal these 
schools were established about 900 years B. C. 
They were a people led to seek after this knowl- 
edge, and accordingly as their desire increased 
in intensity to glorify God, He gave them a 
spirit of understanding of things not generally 
known to men. They became known as men of 
piety and great learning, counselors sent of God 
to man. The purpose of their knowledge was 
to lead men to do the right, instead of doing 
things that did not please God. When it is un- 
derstood that one course of action would give 
the people peace and prosperity, while the other 
course would certainly bring them to grief and 
defeat, it will be seen at once how urgent were 
the demands upon these wise men. The people 
had been wasted in flood, famine, fire and blood, 



84 THK DOOR OPENED. 

and they cried to God for help. These prophets 
told them what this or that enterprise wonld 
lead them to. The prophets were sent to them 
in order that God might restrain them from their 
evil way. The chief pnrsnit of the people of 
this age was war with the nations aronnd them. 
It is also apparent that all the people, with few 
exceptions, were engaged in the worship of gods 
that gave them no peace or satisfaction. They 
worshiped Baal and trusted in the work of their 
own hands to give them prosperity instead of 
depending upon the God of their fathers, al- 
though they knew that they should not bow 
down to any image of anything in the earth be- 
neath or in the heavens above. Yet Satan con- 
vinced them that by seeing the object of their 
worship through something made to represent 
God, they could more effectually approach Him 
and thereby become better acquainted with his 
will. They did not see the diabolical plan of 
Satan to bring upon themselves the evil conse- 
quences of violated law because he knew very 
well that the veneration paid to any object, being, 
or god would make the people more and more 
like unto the object of their devotion, and if the 
object of their worship was beneath themselves 
in intelligence they would at once become more 
ignorant, superstitious and devilish ; hence his 
his object in setting before them idols made with 
hands was to get for himself that worship which, 



REVELATION. 85 

instead of exalting mankind, wonld bring them 
in the end below the level of the brnte. God 
was not in all their thoughts in spite of the 
warning voice of history by which they learned 
of the wonderful dealings of God in Egypt and 
in their own land, for the great wall of Jericho 
still lay a heap of ruins, a perpetual witness of 
the power of the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Israel. At this time when only 7,000 people re- 
mained that were true to the Lord, He raised up 
Elijah to overthrow their altars and destroy the 
idols out of the land. A man that stood where 
Moses stood in the Mount of God, a man so 
pure yet so powerful, accomplished that purpose 
for which God rewarded him, with a life so lost 
in the spirit of the Infinite that a chariot of fire 
came down to bear him to the skies. A life of 
which we know so little before he did these 
things with its glorious end on earth has stamped 
itself on our memory never to be forgotten. 

This revelation imparted to us in the life of 
Elijah has given to man the assurance of the 
unchangeable nature of God in his purpose to 
do good to the children of men. It is not the 
purpose of this work to relate the history of 
mankind or the history of nations, but to mark 
those periods and people by which we are led 
into an understanding of what is in store for us 
who live in this age of the world, and what is 
in store for those who in their turn shall follow 



86 THE DOOR OPENED. 

us. The book of Revelation is bound and sealed 
with seven seals. The world behind us has been 
opening the seals one by one ; of those that are 
past we may judge, but of those that follow we 
may learn, and as the prophets of old unfolded 
the unwritten roll of the ages, let us seek to fol- 
low on, filled with the spirit of God. We have 
gone through about thirty-five centuries of the 
world without looking at the cause of all the 
afflictions of mankind. We have regarded them 
as afflictions sent from God to puriish man for 
disobedience. I need not say that this view of 
the matter is very common among the Chris- 
tians of to-day, for it stands for a very generally 
accepted fact, but I think it not improbable that 
people may believe some things that are not 
true and I cite this as one of those false ideas 
which are generally accepted as Truth. 

As it is the object of Revelation to disclose 
a knowledge of the spiritual government of this 
world, I will try to lay before your mind's eye 
what I believe to be true concerning that which 
I have just asserted, as being a false idea among 
the Christian believers of this age. It is a well 
known fact that God's government admits of no 
failure. It is also a well-known fact that there 
are two opposite contending spiritual forces at 
work in the world, the good and the evil. The 
actuating spirit of these forces originate in False- 
hood and Truth. Their co-existence antidates 



REVELATION. 87 

the creation of man. These two Spiritual Be- 
ings have come to the Earth to claim dominion 
over man in the ages of time. What is man to 
do ? he must yield to the one or the other ; so 
the human family is divided into two classes, the 
one, led by the spirit of Falsehood ; the other, 
by the Spirit of Truth. These two spirits each 
hold out to men the inducement of happiness as 
a reward for their service, Satan offers worldly 
prosperity which shall come by envy, strife, theft 
and murder, for the gain of one man depends so 
very often on the loss of another; so the spirit 
of ambition, pride, selfishness and deceit is en- 
grafted into the character of those who follow 
the god of this world. They are mean, sensual, 
devilish, having been born unto him who is a 
liar and a murderer from the Beginning These 
superior spirits of power rally around their 
standards all those who are willing to follow 
them. Their disciples feed upon their spirits 
till they become like unto them in all their 
character. The growth and sustenance of the 
mortal requires the things of earth that sustain 
the natural man, but the soul, the immortal, 
must take in the spirit in order to its develop- 
ment and sustenance. As the man takes the 
spirit into his Being he becomes a child of the 
same, as fruits that follow their kind. The evils 
of this world find their source in the spirit of evil; 
on the other hand the spirit of Truth will lead 



88 THE DOOR OPENED. 

to the fountains of living waters. God is good 
and only good ; good in all His possessions and in 
all that he bestows. The Truth shall make you 
free. The light discloses the way ; the evil is 
avoided ; man is exalted ; he becomes a child of 
God, a son of the Highest, an heir of Eternal life 
and an image of the Most Holy, the glor} r of God. 
Though he suffer much at the hand of the 
enemy of his soul in this life, he will be brought 
out as Gold from the fire of the refiner and as 
clean as the dew of the morning. Let us not 
say any more that God punishes man ; let us 
not charge him with evil whose nature it is to 
do right. His goodness is upon them that seek 
Him and His blessings unto the end of His 
Being. As for man his days are few in the 
earth and the afflictions of Satan are many, but 
in God an Eternity of joy awaits the faithful 
and true. We have watched the conflicts of 
ages and counted the slain as the sand of the sea 
whose blood was shed for the cause they loved. 
The children of Israel were a people God had 
chosen to be a peculiar treasure unto Himself 
because through them He chose to give the 
world a knowledge of Himself. He dealt with 
them as a nation ; he offered them rewards ; in 
obedience they were prospered, but in disobedi- 
ence they were abased and their wickedness 
brought upon them the evil consequences of 
their degradation according to the law of cause 



REVELATION. 89 

and effect. God demanded that they live moral 
lives ; that they be kind to one another and to 
refrain from the worship of idols. He governed 
them just as a good father should govern his 
children, but they were hard to control. At 
times their afflictions humiliated them and they 
returned to obedience for fear of more severe 
afflictions, because they had been taught that 
God punished them for their disobedience, 
whereas they only came under the conditions of 
their own unrighteous doings. God made the 
law to be kept and they were able to keep it, 
too, if they were so inclined, and law kept un- 
broken exalts any people ; but I fail to see the 
hand of God applying the rod when they were 
afflicted because " The wages of sin is death" 
and death by sin which as fruits after their 
kind are scattered along through the years of 
the sojourner on earth. But the All-wise God 
has changed the bane to a blessing in that our 
natural fear of death because of that which 
must follow, leads men to heed its warning voice 
which ever speaks the awful words, " Prepare to 
meet thy God!" So its voice has been one of 
correction with hopes of a happier future, but 
men naturally cling to life and no matter how 
well prepared one may be, because of the change 
we shrink from it, but we can not stay the hand 
of the destroyer. The government of God in 
this world is exhibited to men throngh the five 



90 THE DOOR OPENED. 

senses and are presented to ns in the light of 
onr understanding rather than as they actually 
exist. Obedience to the law of the true God 
will bring happiness to the soul in this life and 
also in the life which is to come. This happi- 
ness is partly expresssd in the use of our word 
joy, but more fully by the word satisfaction, 
while disobedience will bring us to grief; and 
yet there is a kind of pleasure which gratifies 
our senses even in disobedience, but it does not 
give satisfaction. God is represented to us as 
the source of evil as well as good ; curses as 
well as blessings ; but when we recognize the 
existence of two Snperior Beings dealing with 
mankind, the one good and the other evil, we 
must look to the one as the author of good alone 
and to the other as the author of evil alone. So 
I think that while we have God represented to 
us in our Scriptures as the source of punish- 
ment, we must in the light of Revelation read 
out of His Gospel of his great goodness and 
love, that we have not understood the meaning 
to be that God sent the destroying angel to 
punish mankind or that he sent him even at all, 
but that he hath established righteousness that 
men might be happy by obedience to his Law 
and suffer evil as a consequence of disobedience. 
Shall Ave say that God created angels of every 
kind ? yes, but some of them fell from their po- 
sition of favor in the presence of God and are 



REVELATION. 9 1 

known to be in conflict with God. Satan is 
their captain. Yes, God created angels to ad- 
minister His government in the universe. If 
you can think of all the evil and all the good 
things of this world you can number the angels 
that attend to the wants of men. Angels of 
death, angels of light, guardian angels, mes- 
sengers ; an innumerable cqmpany. Angels that 
speak, angels that lead, angels that watch, good 
angels, angels that sing, evil angels. Can we 
separate them or tell them apart; can we tell 
those that are sent from those that fell? They 
mingle among the throng; the one enters this 
door, the other enters that, they draw and coax 
and win. The battle for life rages in many a 
soul ; who shall control, Satan or Christ ? Un- 
seen, unfelt, unknown, in and out, round and 
through, up and down they go. 

We can not feel and neither can we hear, 

We may not yield to them we do not fear. 

Could we lift the veil of mortality 

Or in the realm of the spirit look through 

Such wonderful scenes at once to behold, 

And glide over the sea of reality 

'Mid visions of beauty all wondrous and new, 

Or bathe in the depths of glories untold, 

How soon we could learn the truth to believe, 

That all mankind these messengers receive 

The evil or the good as. each may choose? 

But this is too much for us to think of; only 
let us believe that the disposition of evil angels 
has been to afflict mankind and that God has 



92 THE DOOR OPENED. 

permitted them to do so for the good of man. 
As we look over the empires that have fallen in 
time and those that have come rip we are re- 
minded of constant change in our Being. 

The light of Heaven has flashed on the path 
of humanity as it rolls away in the past over 
the river of death. One by one the silent spir- 
its flits to the life beyond ; a few have come back, 
but we could not speak to them ; our tongue 
cleaves to the roof of our mouth. Elisha the 
prophet restored the Shunamite's son, but he 
spake no word that we know of and when Elisha 
was resting in the narrow house of death, they 
revived another who was let down and touched 
him in his resting-place, but the man gave us 
no word ; but in this we are taught the great 
fact of the Resurrection. 

When God spake to man by the mouth of 
his servants the prophets, He revealed to us 
many things that we are glad to believe. The 
glorious transfiguration of Enoch and Elijah 
alone would tell us of a life beyond ; but the 
sound of the chariots that put the Syrians to 
flight established forever the fact that the king- 
dom of God is above and beyond the sphere of 
human activity. In the experience of Job we 
find recorded the wonderful dealings of God 
with man. Here in one man is presented the 
extremes to which this life may lead us ; a won- 
derful picture to look upon. A young father 



REVELATION. 93 

with his children playing abont his knee, sur- 
rounded with prosperity on every side, the pride 
of his friends, the joy of the poor, the counsellor 
of neighbors, a perfect man. In the course of 
time Satan afflicts him, he is robbed of his pros- 
perity, his children grown and prosperous in 
their own homes and occupations, his body is 
racked with pain, he is cast out from his friends, 
his wife turns against him, his friends deride 
him, yet he never forsook his God even when 
God appeared to have forsaken him ; and when 
Satan could do no more to wreck his life, family, 
and fortune, God restored to him double of all 
that he had before possessed in family and pros- 
perity and friends. His declining years were 
peaceful and happy. 

To my mind no picture of human experience 
has been more accurately outlined or more beau- 
tifully colored than that which we have in the 
experience of Job, whom God was pleased to 
make for us an example of Satan's work to turn 
a soul away from God. 

And here too, in this revelation we see 
that Satan must render an account unto God, 
who in the end will consign him to a life 
vexed with all the combined horrors that he 
on man inflicted. How terrible are the judg- 
ments of God in the end when at last he 
will consign the rebellious creatures of his 
hand to their own savage revelry that they may 



94 TH3 DOOR OPENED. 

forever continue in that they love best. As the 
sowing is so shall the reaping be, some a hun- 
dred fold. It is altogether probable that Job 
lived in the time of the patriarchs as one of his 
friends was the son of Esau. I think he was 
Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, the second 
Icing of Edom, the great-grandson of Esau. 
The glory of God's earthly kingdom was dis- 
played in the reign of Solomon, the son of Da- 
vid, who built the house of the Lord in Jerusa- 
lem and dedicated it B. C. 1005. From the time 
of his death B. C. 976, to the carrying away 
into Babylon and the burning of the Temple in 
the year 588 B. C., the people did very little but 
worship idols, and consequently the Jews did 
not honor the God of their Father's. Isaiah 
prophesied through a period of sixty years. He 
was the voice of God to Hezekiah, the good 
king ; his foresight was for all time. By the 
word of Isaiah is revealed the kingdom of the 
Holy one of Israel, the branch of Jesse, saying, 
" A virgin shall be with child and shall bring 
forth a son and they shall call His name Imman- 
uel. The government shall be upon his shoul- 
ders ; He shall be called our Righteousness, the 
Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the 
Prince of Peace; yet it pleased the Lord to 
bruise Him ; He hath laid on Him the iniq- 
uity of us all." It pleased the Lord to sacri- 
fice His only son that He, in His death, might 



REVELATION. 95 

justify many ; and to His Kingdom there shall 
be no end. 

When the fullness of time was come that 
He should be born, they wrapped him in swad- 
dling clothes and laid him in a manger in Beth- 
lehem of Judea. His birth was heralded in song 
by the angels of God singing in the night, 
" Glory to God in the Highest ; peace upon 
earth and good will to men." The wise men 
saw His star in the East and followed it till 
it came and stood where the Savior was lain, 
and the shepherds came and worshiped at His 
feet. 

This is He that was born King of the Jews. 
This is the seed of a woman that should bruise 
the Serpent's head and in the end should make 
His grave with the wicked and be numbered 
with the transgressors. An angel appeared unto 
Joseph, the espoused of Mary, to announce the 
birth of a son, saying, " Thou shalt call His 
name Jesus." 

I need not offer my reader any other proof 
that this was He of whom the Prophets had 
spoken. All the conditions had been fulfilled 
and the time was at hand when God should be 
tabernacled in the flesh and blood, God with us. 
The Holy One of Israel, the Everlasting God, 
the I Am, the First and the Last by whom and 
for whom the heavens and the earth were cre- 
ated, the Word, the Truth, the Life, the Breath 



96 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of God, the King of Kings and Lord of All, 
who formed ns and gave ns Being, to earth con- 
signed, reviled, rejected of men, cast ont, forsaken 
on earth, robbed of home for worms of the dnst, 
for clods of the valley, for men depraved and 
low, that he might take away the sting of death 
and rob the grave of victory, come down to 
drink the cnp of woe, to bear every burden of 
sin, to cleanse the sons of men, for men to die, 
that man might live and run his course of be- 
ing ; the Revelation of God clothed with hu- 
manity that men might learn the way of life. 

His life left no room for doubt ; His race in 
time was finished, His righteousness asserted 
his Divinity, His work confirmed his claim that 
He was more than man. His death proclaims 
to all the world a sacrifice complete. Jesus of 
Nazareth, the son of Alary, having finished his 
work on earth was lifted up that he might draw 
all men with the chords of his love. " As Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so 
must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." His disciples who wit- 
nessed his translation saw Moses and Elijah to- 
gether with Christ clad in the robes of Immor- 
tality. He arose from the grave the first fruits 
of the resurrection ; He walked the earth for 
forty da} T s after He arose from the tomb to con- 
vince the world of the reality of another life, 



REVELATION. 97 

and then ascended to Heaven where he sitteth 
npon the throne to jndge the quick and the 
dead. By Him and in Him and to Him are all 
things in the earth beneath and in the Heaven 
above, and He shall reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. His human nature was 
perfect in the sight of friends and foes, of all 
those who watched his daily life. To my mind 
there can be no stronger proof of his Divinity. 
His human sympathy caused him to Aveep with 
those who wept and give a helping hand to 
every one he met who needed any relief. "He 
went about doing good." The lame, the blind, 
the deaf, the living and the dead assert his won- 
drous love. The ills of 'men in his day he took 
away that they might know in whom was life 
and light and joy and peace. He had power to 
heal the body and also to restore the soul. 

The soul has all the five senses and sin can 
paralize the organs of them all ; but Christ has 
power to bring them back to life by breathing 
into the soul the breath of his own spirit. 
When he was about to leave this world he 
promised his disciples that he would send them 
another Comforter that he may abide with them 
forever ; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the 
world can not receive because it seeth him not, 
neither knoweth him ; but ye know him, for he 
dwelleth with you and shall be in yon. "I go to 
prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come 
7 



9^ THE DOOR OPENED. 

again and receive }^ou unto myself, that where I 
am there ye ma}- be also. In my Father's house 
are many mansions." 

His life on earth was given to teach us the 
nature and character of God and to saA*e us from 
our sins. The Kingdom which he hath estab- 
lished on earth is not of this earth ; it is the 
kingdom of Heaven ; Christ is the King. Jesus 
was his earthly name, but Christ his Divine 
name. The kingdom of Christ is a spiritual 
kingdom and those who enter it nrrst be born of 
the spirit, which signifies the reception of the 
Holy spirit into the temple of the living God. 
'" I will send you the spirit of Truth which shall 
be with you and dwell in you." 

When Christ ascended into Heaven to give 
an account unto God of his stewardship, having 
satisfied the ends of justice to God's holy Law 
by paying the price for man's redemption, hav- 
ing offered that infinite possession, even the 
blood of the Son of God, He made it possible 
that the cleansing of the tabernacle might be 
complete hy the Righteousness of Christ unto 
the sanctification of the vessels of wrath for the 
dwelling place of the Hoi} 7 Ghost. 

" In my Father's House are many mansions. 
Know ye not that }~e are the temple of the living 
God ? Behold ! the tabernacle of God is with 
men and I will dwell in them and I will walk in 
them and I will be their God and they shall be 



REVELATION. 99 

my people." The kingdom of Christ in the 
heart of man. The King on the throne of the 
sonl crying, " Come tin to me and be ye saved all 
ye ends of the earth." Messengers of God, the 
living Word known and read of all men. 

These parting words which Jesus spake to 
his disciples were very comforting and instruc- 
tive. They set before us the Holy Spirit, mak- 
ing a sure foundation for the doctrine of the 
Trinity, the three-fold characteristic of God, 
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; 
and these three are one, individual living God, 
one spirit which is omnipresent with man. 
God in us, sanctifying and purifying, leading the 
soul out of darkness into his marvelous Light, 
transforming us from the likeness of the earthly 
into the image of the Heavenly. This spirit of 
Truth which dwelleth in man has all the attri- 
butes of God, and is God in the fullest sense of 
the term. There is no blessing which men en- 
joy that is not provided by and through the op- 
eration of this spirit. As a provider for all the 
necesssities of our Being He is our Father ; in 
the operation of regeneration He is the source 
of Life, which life is Eternal and implies son- 
ship and gives favor with God and joy evermore. 
He it is that leads the soul to the fountains of 
Eternal Life that we may drink of the spirit 
which sustains and develops the soul, giving 
strength, courage, wisdom and power. The 



IOO THE DOOR OPENED. 

spirit of God shall put you in remembrance of 
all things and lead }^ou into all Truth, and the 
Truth shall make you free from the bondage of 
sin, the weight that holds you down, the load 
that prevents your progress. Ye shall be free 
indeed; which means that this corruption of 
earth, this vile worm of the dust, this house of 
flesh and blood shall open its prison-doors of 
clay and let the prisoner out to rise on wings of 
light from Earth to Heaven — 

To rest from care and sadness 
To live in joy and gladness 

To be at home with God forever. God with us 
is the Revelation of the parting words of Jesus. 
What comfort, what blessedness ; joy to earth 
come down, the kingdom of God, the kingdom 
of Christ made possible in every human heart. 
The Apostles went to work to establish the 
outward form of that inward Holiness. When 
they were come together with one accord in 
Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost descended and en- 
tered into the hearts of many to begin the work 
of God on earth. A nation was born in a day, 
and Christ is the king of saints ; he shall reign 
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. His 
kingdom is recognized everywhere in the world 
to-day. The nations of the Earth count time 
from A. D. ; would-be unbelievers, infidels of 
every class in all civilization, write over their 



REVELATION. IOI 

letters 1893, thus acknowledging the birth of 
Christ. 

The Lord has administered his government 
of man under different forms at different times. 
The Patriarchal worship was a very simple form 
of religion. God was recognized as the Creator 
and Ruler of all things who demanded that men 
should honor and obey his Law spoken by the 
voice of the conscience. It was their custom to 
pray and when He made known his will to them 
by some unusual manifestation of his presence 
and favor, they took stones and made an Altar 
to mark the place where God was pleased to re- 
veal himself to them. They took offerings for 
sin and uncleanness and sacrificed them on these 
rough stone Altars, believing that the savor of 
them would reach unto Heaven and be recog- 
nized of God. Now, it was so that when they 
showed their dependence on Him, and Him 
alone, that he blessed them. 

After this it pleased God to use the human 
voice, speaking out of some form of light, to 
impart his will to men. 

Then He sent Angels and visions of the 
night so that men had knowledge enough to 
do that which was pleasing to God, but not 
enough to teach anything of his spiritual nature. 
He allowed his power over natural things to be 
compared with that of the Necromancers and 
Wizards of Egypt in order to show his super- 



102 THE DOOR OPENED. 

iority to them. Pharoah Had to be convinced 
that the Lord alone was the trne God. 

The Egyptians worshiped the things of na- 
ture and these mediums were used to speak the 
will of their gods to the King ; but God gave 
Moses to be in his stead and Aaron to speak for 
him ; so they entered the contest to see which 
was the true God. 

These slight-of-hand performers were able to 
de almost any thing ; but God chose to show his 
control over all the gods of the Egyptians. They 
worshiped the sun, moon and stars, the rivers, 
air, etc. ; so God turned the rivers to blood, the 
sun to darkness, the hail to fire, the air brought 
forth lice, convincing the king that there 
was only one true God. 

After this the Priesthood was established 
through whom the transgressions of the people 
were pardoned. At this time all the temporal 
needs of the people were miraculously supplied, 
but they were not thankful and became very 
wicked in worshiping idols instead of God. So 
he gave them up to be ruled by Judges after 
Moses and Joshua died, but the Judges had very 
little of God's spirit in them and the people were 
scattered. 

Then God gave them good kings that brought 
them back to the worship of the true God. 
Again, after these were dead, other kings ruled 
over them and they did evil in the sight of the 



REVELATION. IO3 

Lord continuously, so God raised up his voice 
of warning b}^ the mouth of the Prophets, but 
they gave no heed to these and killed them. 
" Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
Prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto 
thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil- 
dren together as a hen doth gather her brood 
under her wings, but ye would not." 

So after this it pleased God to administer his 
government at the hands of his Son, Jesus 
Christ, the King of Kings. As the sacrifice of 
the Jewish ritual required the shedding of blood 
for the remission of sins, when Jesus of Naz- 
areth was proclaimed by the voice of John the 
Baptist, saying, " Behold the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world," it very nat- 
urally taught the people that he should be slain, 
and however they may have refrained from tak- 
ing the life of man, or from the shedding of in- 
nocent blood, the Purpose of God in Christ could 
not be changed, all the means were at hand to 
bring about the offering up of the Just for the 
unjust, the Only Son, the Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world. 

As the people were led to take the life of 
Jesus (the very Devils are at God's command) 
so this same spirit sealed the fate of many of 
his disciples. The Martyrs that gave up their 
lives for the testimony of Jesus were but step- 
ping-stones to seal the condemnation of the 



104 THE DOOR OPENED. 

wicked. I would not have you understand that 
the greater part of the human family are eter- 
nally lost, however true it is that all have been 
desperately wicked. We are not the judges of 
men, because just judgment is beyond our abil- 
ity. The Bible teaches that there is none good, 
no, not one ; but it also teaches that God is mer- 
ciful. When we read the history of man we are 
compelled to acknowledge that his whole history 
is one of rebellion against God, and }^et many of 
these rebellious people at some time in their life 
are led to see the folly of their way, and when 
they do, they turn to God who is not slack con- 
cerning his promises. The least sigh for relief, 
the least desire to do right, is regarded by God 
according to the measure of his manifold mercy. 
There is no testimony anywhere in the dark his- 
tory of sinful man where God has refused to for- 
give ; on the other hand, at any stage of human 
action, the loving kindness of the infinite God 
has gone out to watch, to listen, to feed the flick- 
ering flame of the sinful soul. As long as the 
warm breath of love can fan the flame of mor- 
tality it is not withheld ; as long as a spark of 
life remains in man the spirit of God kindles the 
fire ; as long as we have a breath God pours 
into our Being the light of his countenance ; 
but each Age is responsible to God according to 
the light given to the people of that Age. 

This is a great problem for us to solve, for 






REVELATION. 105 

the Revelation of God has not come alike to all 
people at the same time. Thus the Antideluvi- 
ans had everything to turn them away from 
God, while the descendants of Noah were be- 
gotten in iniquity and the Nations of the Earth 
in the time of Abraham was so steeped in crime 
that the whole race were led by the god of this 
world. 

Out of the wreck God gathered him a peo- 
ple, but they were a crooked and perverse gen- 
eration and there was no way to prevent the 
awful consequences of sin but the infinite mercy 
of God in dealing with the infinite sins of man, 
so that God was compelled from a sense of his 
great love for man to make provision to over- 
come the evil of the world. No man compelled 
him, no man desired him, none knew him, yet 
freely of himself and for his own glory, he coun- 
seled with himself for the deliverance of man. 
To accomplish his purpose it was necessary that 
he be long-suffering, tender and kind ; his 
mercy must be extended to all throughout their 
whole life, and must cover the sins that men do 
not see because of their lack of knowledge. 
Then too, his gift of pardon must be ready for 
each one of every Age of man ; his love must 
be upon all the children of men alike, for God 
is no respector of persons ; all this he could do, 
and would be glad to do. Then I fancy I see 
the great, loving Father bowed down with grief, 



106 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the throne of the Universe trembling, and harps 
of Heaven still; then I hear a voice say- 
ing, "I WILL GO DOWN TO EARTH, PUT ON 
HUMANITY, BE NUMBERED WITH THE TRANS- 
GRESSORS AND BE OFFERED UP, A RANSOM FOR 
MANY, AND I WILL BE UNTO MYSELF A SON, 
BORN OF A WOMAN, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF 

God." Think of it reader, think of the infinite 
love. The provisions of this redemption is suf- 
ficient for the salvation of all the children of 
men. " Whosoever will may come and drink of 
the water of life freely." It is the gift of God. 
It can not be gotten for gold, for the purchasing 
price of man's redemption outweighs the uni- 
verse of God. 

He spake to his disciples saying, "Go ye 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every 
creature." When the / Will of God was ut- 
tered in Heaven, the second person of the Trin- 
ity sat on his Father's Throne in the Kingdom 
above. The Power and the Glory of the Great 
God were upon the Son, and the Glory of the 
Father became so ineffable that none but the 
Angels could look upon him and live. These all 
fall down before him as he stands on the sea of 
glass, casting their crowns at his feet crying, 
" Honor and blessing and glory and power be 
unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and 
to the Lamb forever and ever." 

These scenes transpired long before the ere- 



REVELATION. IO7 

ation of man 011 the Earth. God's foreknowl- 
edge comprehends the End from the Beginning. 
So he saw our needs and made a plan to rescue 
us from Hell. Through Him and by Him and 
for Him are all things. The first declaration 
of the Bible reads, " In the Beginning God cre- 
ated the heavens and the earth, and the earth 
was without form and void, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep." 

Here the statement ends. It doesn't read 
in the beginning God made man, for man has 
only been on the earth about 6,000 years, where- 
as the heavens and the earth were created in the 
Beginning of God, who is without beginning 
and without end, for in snch words we express 
the Eternity of God's existence. Then again, 
in the first chapter of John's Gospel we read, 
" In the Beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God and the Word was God, the 
same was in the Beginning with God, all things 
were made by him and without him was not 
anything made that was made. In him was life 
and the life was the light of men and the Word 
was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we 
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be- 
gotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." 
Truly might Christ say, "Before the world was, 
I Am." 

Sin had its origin in Heaven. Before the 
Earth was fitted up to be the abode of man, God 



108 THE DOOR OPENED. 

created angels to do his service and pay their 
homage at his feet. They are a very superior 
order of beings, having intelligence, with liberty 
of thought and action, having emotional natures 
like our own, proud, ambitious, hopeful, joyous, 
powerful, winging their way to the utmost 
bounds of creation by the power of their omni- 
presence. 

The Son of God, the only son, Light of 
Earth and Heaven, stood up while saints and an- 
gels, kings and priests, seraphim and cherubim 
cast their crowns before him, and a voice from 
under the Throne cried out, " The kingdoms of 
this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and of his Christ." When the first fiat of cre- 
ation went forth, man stood up in the image of 
God, the glory of the earth, a perfect Being, intel- 
ligent, happy and free, Satan wanted to be his 
king and revolted against the authority of God 
who had given this world to Christ. The angels 
took sides, the Heavenly host was divided. Sa- 
tan's position in Heaven (Eze. xxviii, 14, 15,) 
was so near that of Christ that he presumptu- 
ously expected the Lord to annoint him king of 
the earth. In this he was disappointed and his 
fury knew no bounds. "There was war in Heaven. 
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon 
and the dragon fought and his angels and pre- 
vailed not, neither was their place found any 
more in Heaven, and the great Dragon was cast 



REVELATION. IO9 

out, that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan 
which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast 
out into the earth and his angels were cast out 
with him." 

We have traced the work of God on the peo- 
ple of earth from the creation of man during a 
period of 4,000 years to the beginning of the 
last kingdom on the earth, the kingdom of 
Christ, to whose dominion there shall be no end. 
This new kingdom established nearly nineteen 
centuries ago is still increasing in power and 
so must continue till the last life of humanity 
goes out. As yet we have only mentioned the 
establishment of the kingdom of Chrst in Je- 
rusalem by his disciples on the day of Pentecost. 






CHAPTER IV. 

SATAN AT WORK. 

Since we have spoken of the existence of 
that Being who wanted to be the king of this 
Earth, the god of this world, and since the 
god of this world has exerted so much influence 
over the minds and lives of men, I think it comes 
within the province of this work to present the 
reader with the working of Satan from the time 
of his entrance into this world down to the time 
when Christ established his Kingdom, and from 
that time on I shall endeavor to give an account 
both of Satan and of Christ in the spiritual gov- 
ernment of man. 

The adversary of the kingdom of Christ is 
known under several different names. These 
two contestants operate in the souls of men, 
which they enter through the five senses into 
the mind, by means of which they control the 
actions of men, so that the spirits war against 
each other in the flesh and often, under certain 
conditions, they war against the same body which 
they inhabit. Spirit life, which is the source of 
all created existences, have the power within 
themselves of entering into and operating in and 
no 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 1 I 

through whatever life they choose to use for the 
accomplishment of their purpose. This spirit 
once having effected an entrance controls the 
life in the disposition of all its activities, ener- 
gies and impulses. Thus when an evil spirit 
enters the mind of man, that mind is used in 
exerting an evil influence. The body is operated 
at the command of the will through the medi- 
ation of the nerves, and all the energy of the 
man is brought into action to carry out the 
works necessary to bring about the desired re- 
sult. The relation of the supreme spirit to the 
spirit of the individual operated in and through 
becomes that of father and child. It is a well- 
known principle that like begets like. This law 
which so naturally applies itself to all the things 
of Earth also controls all spirit life. 

There are good angels and evil angels, so 
that there are many phases of spirit life and 
power. The angels of God are messengers sent 
to the Earth to minister to those who shall be 
the heirs of salvation ; so the angels that sinned 
and fell from Heaven to Earth go about oper- 
ating to overthrow the work of God in the lives 
of the children of men. It is through these spir- 
itual agencies that spirit life has given energy 
and individuality to every man, to each that 
which makes one, different from all others. 
Under a certain condition the individual oper- 
ated in and through becomes so obedient to the 



112 THE DOOR OPENED. 

will of the controlling spirit that they are the 
offspring of the spirit which enters their Being. 
The body of man is a dwelling-place for spirit 
life and power. There are many expressions in 
the Scriptures that are easily understood when 
interpreted in this light. Christ says, " Behold ! 
I stand at the door and knock; if any man will 
open the door I will come into him and sup with 
him and he with me," (the door is opened from 
the inside by those within.) " In my Father's 
house are many mansions," (the house is the 
world, the mansion is the body.) " When the 
unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh 
through dry places seeking rest and finding 
none ; then he saith, I will return into my house 
from whence I came out ; then he goeth and 
taketh with himself seven other spirits more 
wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell 
there, and the last state of that man is worse 
than the first. 

This last passage declares that the same in- 
dividual may furnish a dwelling-place for many 
spirits at the same time. These spirits each have 
a specific work to do, or they may all be engaged 
in different parts of the same work. They may 
all alike be engaged in the works of evil, or some 
may be workers of evil, while others are workers 
of good ; or they may be all good spirits at work 
for the Master's kingdom. When this is the case 
we recognize the fact that the unclean spirits 






SATAN AT WORK 113 

"have been cast out. But they are cast out not 
by the individual, not by anything within, that 
is of, the individual, but by the ministering 
spirits of God that are within, but which do not 
become the individual in any of its composition 
until God has through these spirits utterly over- 
thrown and cast out from the temple, all that is 
unclean within. This is the New Birth ; this is 
the overthrow of Satan and the victory of Christ. 
Then, the good spirits enter upon their minis- 
try to guard, guide and strengthen the individ- 
ual to enable him to resist the Devil, to shut 
the door against evil spirits and keep them out. 
There are three parts to our make up — the Nat- 
ural, the New and the Divine — but the Natural 
man is a servant of the New man under the au- 
thority of the Divine, the authority of God in 
the soul ; but the servant is sometimes unfaith- 
ful and breaks away under satanic influence to 
do evil. Temptation is not Sin, but yielding to 
temptation is sin and leads to its commission 
more and more ; therefore, we sin continually 
throughout this whole life. " Let us, therefore, 
give more earnest heed to the things we have 
heard, lest at any time we may let them slip. ' ' The 
spirit (of God) warreth against the flesh (the 
spirit of Satan.) Paul says, " Therefore, let us 
put on the whole armor of God, that ye may 
be able to stand in the evil day, and having done 
all to stand." 



114 THE DOOR OPENED. 

With our first parents in Eden, the conflict 
between Satan and Christ began in the life of 
man. Satan entered the Garden in search of the 
man God had made. Here his deceptive nature 
began its cunning work. He knew his foe full 
well, for God walked around through the Gar- 
den, and angels guarded its entrance, if possible, 
to keep out this Arch-fiend and foe of God and 
man. It were possible for him to enter the gar- 
den only in the form of some of the creatures of 
this earth ; so he devised a plan and executed it 
before we would have time to think. He en- 
tered a serpent, and gliding noislessly along the 
ground to where Eve, with wondering sight 
looked on the plenteous yielding garden foliage, 
and with uplifted form, with flashing eye and 
head erect, enticed her eager ear t d listen while 
he spake about the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil. He knew what God had told 
them about this fruit. " Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt 
not eat of it ; for in the day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt surely die." 

Eve's curiosity had been aroused. She had 
said, "I'll go out and take a good look at this 
tree, so I shall make no mistake in taking of 
the fruit of this tree, lest I lose my life." She 
met Satan, who had been watching her as she 
s^ood looking at this particular tree and won- 



SATAN AT WORK. 115 

dering why she should not eat of the fruit, and 
he told her that she should not surely die, but 
that they would become as gods knowing good 
and evil. The voice that Eve heard argued after 
the foregoing manner until her curiosity to see 
had turned to a desire to taste (experience) the 
knowledge of good and evil. She had deliber- 
ately determined to disobey God, for surely she 
did not know in her new and strange existence 
and surroundings but that this voice was another 
god, for she did not know that there is One 
only true God. These foolish thoughts, this act 
of the Will, was the sin which brought down on 
man the first results of sin, the death of the soul 
or the enmity of the soul against God, which in 
time worketh out the life of the body through 
the effects of sin unto death. As by one man's 
disobedience death came upon all men, so by the 
obedience of One many shall be brought to life. 
Eve was not satisfied until Adam was made a 
partaker of her disobodience. It were not possi- 
ble for man to have a knowledge of evil and not 
do evil, but he had had no experience in the 
world, and so he yielded to the first temptation. 
I think that when our first parents were told 
that they should earn their bread by the sw r eat 
of their brow they felt pretty bad. The ground 
was cursed for their sake ; that is, when sin en- 
tered the world it not only affected man, but it 
affected the earth also. The whole creation 



Il6 THE DOOR OPENED. 

groaned when natnre died, and every plant and 
shrub and tree aborted frnitage bore. 

The effects of man's fall was far-reaching ; 
nevertheless God told them to pnt forth their 
hands and take also of the tree of life. Side by- 
side the two forces of earth, or air or sky, be- 
gan their work. Adam saw the frnit of his 
doings when Cain murdered his brother Abel. 
Then we notice that Cain goes off and all we 
hear of him is evil and only evil continually. 
In due time Seth is born, a good boy, and when 
he grows up, follows after the True God, but the 
great mass of mankind continue to do evil. 
There is no known crime in the catalogue of 
sin that they were not guilly of. God was 
ashamed of men, so in order to put a check to 
the work of darkness he brought a flood upon 
the earth. 

After this, the sons of men go out, each fol- 
lowing the propensities of his own evil nature, 
till Satan almost had possession of men. There 
was no way for God to do, but to let them destroy 
each other. They felt themselves to be chief. 
Satan thought they should worship him and set 
about to establish his kingdom. Satan knew 
nothing about worship except what he learned 
in Heaven of the worship of God ; but he knew 
that the worship in Heaven would not do for 
men, neither would it do to have a ceremony 
just like the people had ; so he concluded that if 






SATAN AT WORK. I I 7 

he made just a little difference in it people would 
think that it was the same worship, but be de- 
ceived in the end ; no matter, his purpose would 
be accomplished, and that was all he wanted. 
He reasoned on this wise with the people : You 
can not see God and you can not tell whether he 
is pleased with your service or not, so very little 
is known about God ; the air may be God, or 
the sun or the host of heaven may be God. So 
with this idea in mind he concluded that certain 
influences came from one source and others from 
some other source, but as God was in all these, if 
men should worship these, they would be wor- 
shiping God, and then as the people knew very 
little of God, Satan knew that they would more 
readily adopt his plans. If they should make 
images to represent the different gods that 
would give form to their God, which the}^ could 
see, and a reasonable ceremony, his plans of 
worship would please the people and they would 
readily adopt it. By this means he could get 
them to break the foundation of all the laws of 
God. Satan knew that the more mystery there 
was about the ceremony the better. 

If we start out to trace the worship of the 
god of this world, we must remember that the 
worship of the true God before the flood was 
very little known, or at least, very little prac- 
ticed. There does not seem to have been any 
congregational worship nor any famity worship 



Il8 THE DOOR OPENED. 

participated in by others than the head of the 
family ; neither does the worship of Satan seem 
to have taken any particular form till after the 
Flood. So if we undertake to follow the course 
of Satan in his diabolical work we will have to 
follow the repopulation of the Earth in the de- 
scendants of Noah. The worship of the true 
God has been preserved by the descendants of 
Shem, the eldest son of Noah. By him are the 
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their gen- 
erations up to Christ. Ham was the father of 
the Canaanites, Arabians, Egyptians, Ethiop- 
ians and Africans. Japheth was father to the 
Grecians and Romans. 

Mysticism, an important part of Satanic wor- 
ship (as before stated), had its origin with the 
Arabians. Superstition, ignorance and crime 
seem to be the greater part of total depravity. 
Divination, charms and fortune-telling, sooth- 
saying, etc., were practiced long before the time 
in which Israel was ruled by kings. The inves- 
tigation of Nature to discover the original rul- 
ing principle seems to have been started in 
Greece. The study of astronomy was pursued 
in order to discover Deity, and as a result their 
investigation became interwoven with Astrol- 
ogy ; Philosophy entered in and went to finish 
up the sum total of confusion. The sad story 
of a good beginning with a bad end which gave 
the world neither knowledge or wisdom. In 



SATAN AT WORK. 119 

Egypt we find the descendants of Ham worshiping 
Idols when Joseph went into that country. The 
prophets of Satan were called Magicians. The 
first kings of which history makes mention bore 
the name of Pharoah. They also had priests. 
Joseph's wife was Asenath, the daughter of Pot- 
iphera, the priest of On. How long idol wor- 
ship had been going on history does not dis- 
close ; but as I said before, Satan concluded that 
he could accomplish his purpose best through 
images. The people were led to believe that they 
were worshiping the true God, and I don't think 
that they ever found out any difference until Jo- 
seph interpreted Pharoah's dream ; but it was 
not for Joseph to put a stop to idolatry. The 
Egyptians worshiped the host of heaven ; the 
Planets were so many gods, and to each were 
attributed certain powers. They worshiped the 
river Nile and thought the Crocodile to be a 
sacred thing ; the women threw their infants in 
the river to be devoured by them, which they 
fancied would appease the wrath of their god. 

This you will readily recognize as the work 
of Satan. The animosities of mankind, envy, 
strife, malice, hatred and jealousy are promul- 
gated only by Satanic influences. Seven thou- 
sand Romans were slaughtered at one time be- 
cause of the accidental killing of a cat, one of 
the animals which were sacred in Egypt. All 
attention of a devotional nature given to ani- 



120 THE DOOR OPENED. 

mals, images or any of the things of Nature were 
alike offensive to the Lord. The worship of Sa- 
tan was complete and well established in Egypt 
as will plainly be seen when we look at the ef- 
fect it had upon the people. It had no tendency 
to elevate man. In the first place the king gov- 
erned the people only as so many beasts of bur- 
den. Any one who is familiar with the public 
works of this nation, with no system of reve- 
nue except the labor of slaves, will not look to 
the grand sepulchers of kings, the Obelisks or 
Pyramids of her great cities with any degree of 
pleasure, when they remember the cost to have 
been the life-blood of millions only for the agran- 
dizement of Kings. Their chief aim was to be 
powerful, to get wealth and to bleed the sur- 
rounding nations. 

Jacobs family of seventy souls were well cared 
for only until the power of God was removed 
by the death of Joseph. These people during 
400 years of their sojourn were subjected to the 
most inhuman cruelties until God himself would 
permit it no longer, and brought them out by the 
hand of his servant Moses. The descendants of 
Jacob were very familiar with the worship of Sa- 
tan and were participants in that worship. The 
fact is clearly evidenced by their actions after 
they came out of Egypt. When Aaron made 
them a golden calf at the feet of Sinia, the}^ 
seemed only to want to worship something that 



SATAN AT WORK. 121 

they could see. This calf, they called God, was 
made of the jewelry they had borrowed of the 
Egyptians. They were not used to having a 
good time ; they scarcely knew how to laugh ; 
they had very low, mean dispositions, w T ith no 
respect for God nor man. They rebelled and 
complained all the way from Goshen of Egypt, 
to the Jordan of the Land of Promise, ever urg- 
ing their leader to take them back to the condi- 
tions of bondage from whence they came. 

The worship of Satan is very enticing be- 
cause it encourages the gratification of the pas- 
sions, while on the other hand, the elevating influ- 
ences of the worship of God, only promise re- 
ward in a life which is to come. I think when 
the Lord came dowm on Sinia in cloud and fire 
and thunder, perhaps these people realized that 
the God of Moses and Aaron was a divine re- 
ality, but they were still not willing to forget 
the serpent, as evidenced by this people preserv- 
ing the brazen serpent which Moses made. It 
was long after the life-saving look of faith 
that this serpent was destroyed. The children 
of this people worshiped this Serpent long after 
they came into the Land of Promise. It is 
strange how Satan is able to turn aside the 
people of God from following in the ways of 
righteousness. 

Before the times of the kings of Israel, Eli 
was the Priest of the Lord in Shiloh, B. C. 1116. 



122 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The Ark and Tabernacle had been here abont 
325 years. Once a year the people carne np 
here to worship. The sons of Eli took this oc- 
casion to defile the daughters of Israel, The 
sons of Eli were sons of Belial, and Eli knew 
what evil the}^ did, but instead of having them 
stoned to death for their abominations, he sup- 
ported them, and thereby honored them more 
than he did his God. 

At this time Israel went out to battle against 
the Philistines, and the two sons of Eli were with 
the Ark, for Israel carried the Ark with them. 
The Philistines were afraid and said, " God is 
come into the camp, woe unto us, who shall de- 
liver us out of the hands of these Mighty Gods; 
these are the gods that smote the Egyptians 
with all the plagues in the wilderness?" But Is- 
rael was smitten ; 30,000 of Israel were smitten 
and among them the two sons of Eli. The Phi- 
listines took the Ark also. Now, a man came to 
Eli and told him what had happened to the peo- 
ple, his sons and the Ark of the Lord. Eli was 
ninety-eight years old and he fell off his seat and 
broke his neck. Satan influenced him so that he 
rendered unto Satan the service that belonged 
to God. 

When it was known by the mouth of Sam- 
uel what should befall Eli, Satan stirred up the 
evil nature of the people to go out against the 
Philistines to battle, and he knew, too, that God 






SATAN AT WORK. I 23. 



W 



ould not be with them, and so they would be 
defeated and thus a great many of the true peo- 
ple would be killed. This was just what he 
wanted, because when all the people of God were 
out of the way he would be lord himself. The 
first time Israel went out at Ebenezer, only four 
thousand were killed, but when the idolatrous 
sons of Eli took the Ark of the Covenant out 
with them as if God were under the leadership 
of Satan, the Lord withheld his power while 
30,000 footmen of Israel were slain. 

This must have greatly grieved the Lord. 
If God's wrath ever came upon men, it is no 
where recorded that he destroyed those that were 
true to him ; but his wrath did visit the Philis- 
tines immediately after this. They took the Ark 
to Ashdod and set it in the Temple beside Da- 
gon, their god. The first night Dagon fell over 
on his face ; the next morning when the priests 
came in they set Dagon up again in his place 
and on the following morning, when the priests 
went up to the Temple, Dagon was down again 
with his head off, his hands off and all the upper 
part of his body broken off. This god w^as 
man-like above the belt and the rest was like 
the latter part of a fish. None of the priests 
or the people would go in there any more for 
fear of the Lord. The Ark was taken from 
place to place for seven months, and wherever it 
went many died and all the men that did not die 



124 TH £ DOOR OPENED. 

were smitten with Hemorrhoids, and the cry 
went np to Heaven. The Philistines called for 
the priests and the diviners (prophets of Satan) 
saying, "What shall we do with the Ark of the 
Lord?" They said: " Send not the Ark away 
empty, but send an offering with it." Then 
they made five Emorods of Gold and five golden 
mice and pnt them in a cart with the Ark and 
hitched to it two fresh milk cows that had never 
a yoke on their neck before and they started 
them np the road and they went straight to 
Bethshemesh, and the five lords of the Philis- 
tines followed them. 

They, of Bethshemesh, were reaping their 
wheat-harvest in the valley, and when they saw 
the Ark they rejoiced, and the cart came into the 
field of Joshna, a Bethshemite, where there was 
a great stone, and they clave the cart and offered 
the kine, a bnrnt offering unto the Lord. The 
Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the 
coffer that was with it, wherein were the jewels 
of gold and put them on the great stone, and 
the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offering 
and sacrificed sacrifices this same day unto God. 
The people came out there and looked at the 
Ark, and the Lord smote 50,070, so they sent 
messengers up to Kirjath Jearim, saying, " Come 
down and take up the Ark;" so they came and 
look it up and set it in the house of Abinadab 
and sanctified his son Eleazer to keep the Ark 






SATAN AT WORK. 1 25 

of the Lord and it was here twenty years be- 
fore the children of Israel left off worshiping 
Baalim and Ashtaroth. This last slaughter of 
more than 50,000 people was on account of the 
people putting the images of the Philistines, 
the Emorods and mice of gold on the altar where 
they burnt sacrifices unto God, for the Lord will 
not have that which is the work of another god. 
It will be seen at once that any worship, to be 
acceptable unto God, must be perfectly pure ; 
but Satan can accomplish his purpose better by 
the people who think they are worshiping the 
Lord than in any other way because the worship 
is not acceptable, and at the same time the peo- 
ple lose their lives. 

Thus Satan who is deceitful above all things, 
leads people who are inclined to worship into 
practicing things that keep them from pleas- 
ing God. It is elsewhere stated in this work 
that God does not take the life of people. There 
was a time and a people who thought God to be 
the author of death, and they have so stated it 
in the sacred record, but they did not know of 
another god whose chief aim was to destroy men, 
both soul and bod}^. The wages of sin is death , 
and while God has permitted this work to go 
on, it is not in his all-wise counsel to take the 
power of choice out of the hands of men, lest 
He make of them slaves to a law which would 
take away the power to become like him in whose 



126 THE door opened. 

image they were created, when they come to be 
with him where he is. God permits the destroy- 
ing messengers of Satan to go about their work 
of destruction. All the evils that befall man- 
kind are brought upon us by the evil spirits which 
were cast out from Heaven or by their evil in- 
fluences ; but a time comes when the cry goes 
up to Heaven where God hears and sees and feels 
the pangs of human woe and reaches out his 
powerful hand to stop their further ravages. 
There are some evils that help to carry out the 
purposes of God, and I think it very probable 
that all these evils are a means unto an end. If 
we will look for results I think we shall find 
that the greater affliction will work out the con- 
dition of soul necessary to the greatest reward. 
•Christ was made perfect through suffering in 
that he tasted death for every man to justify all 
who by faith lay hold on Eternal Life. 

When the Lord permitted Satan to try Job, 
although he was greatly afflicted, yet he was per- 
fected in patience and faith. The Lord saw Sa- 
tan going up with men to worship and it appears 
from the conversation that took place between 
God and the great adversary of man, that even 
Satan is at God's command for the accomplish- 
ment of his purpose to do good to man. We 
know that God is able to do whatever he desires 
with Satan, putting him in chains at will. We 
are led to believe that God is able and has de- 



SATAN AT WORK. I 27 

vised a way, even through this arch-fiend and 
foe of God and man, to bring about the Glory 
of God and the eternal salvation of sinners from 
the power of endless death to give unto them the 
power and peace and joy of an endless Life. It 
does not seem probable that the vast mass of hu- 
manity is destined to eternal death. If more 
than half the human family should in the end 
be consigned to realms of woe the power of God 
unto salvation would be a failure. I am bold to 
say that a work which belongs to God can not 
fail. Though many, through unbelief, will take 
unto themselves freely, the consequences of their 
guilt and sin in the torments of a flame as un- 
quenchable and eternal as the flame of God's 
undying love, yet Christ will be victorious. Of 
this victory of Christ we are confident, not that 
a time will come while time on earth shall last, 
that every knee on earth will bow, but that a 
time will come in the Eternal years when every 
knee on Earth and Heaven and Hell will bend 
to own that Christ is King. At this time of the 
world through which we are passing in our nar- 
rative (time of Samuel) it would seem that Satan 
had usurped the Throne. The presence of God 
was withdrawn from his people to a great extent 
when Samuel judged Israel. The surrounding 
people were at war with them on every hand, 
and a time had come when a change of govern- 
ment was really necessary. The people wanted 



128 THE DOOR OPENED. 

to be ruled by a king ; their oppressors were 
ruled by kings and seemed to be more success- 
ful, so trie people determined to have a king 
over them. Samuel anointed Saul, the son of 
Kish of the tribe of Benjamin, their first king, 
B. C.j iooi. 

For the last twenty-five years previous the 
worship of the true God had been neglected and 
the worship of Satan engaged in by the people of 
Israel worshiping the gods of the country around 
them. This spiritual war between God and Satan 
had been fierce, almost to the destruction of the 
worship of the true God. If I were describing this 
fierce contest I should say that God's people 
were few }^et powerful, able to conquer without 
regard to numbers, while on the other hand Sa- 
tan's hosts were powerful only by their great 
number ; they are both in the field, both armies 
proud, determined, brave, ready for anything and 
afraid of nothing First, with glittering swords 
uplifted, they rush to slaughter amid the clash 
of spears, the one repulsed and then the other, 
one rank depleted then another, till night should 
put an end to the busy tramp of feet over the 
thousands of the slain. 

Such scenes were common when men learned 
war in Palestine. This outward form of war 
was the battle of the gods made visible. At this 
time God was not with his people in power be- 
cause they had surrendered and were in the 



SATAN AT WORK. I 29 

camp of Satan worshiping the gods of those 
people with whom they were associated. They 
felt that they were sinners, outcasts, rebels 
against the God of their Fathers. The war be- 
tween conflicting principles often goes on with- 
out any outward display of animosity. The in- 
fluences that trouble mankind are often given 
no particular attention. It seems that with this 
new government there came a change in the af- 
fairs of this people. They put away their idols 
and worshiped the true God. 

In the course of time the son of Jesse came 
into the ranks of the army of Saul who were 
fighting the Philistines. The giant Goliath 
came out front every day from the Philistian 
ranks to challenge any man in Saul's army to 
fight with him. So David came into the camp 
of Israel, and although he had been at home at- 
tending the flocks, and besides, only a boy of 
eighteen years, he went down in the valley to 
fight the giant who was nine and a half feet tall. 
When the giant saw him coming, he said that 
he would give David to the fowls of the air for 
food ; but David told him he came in the name 
of the Lord and would take away his head, and 
so he did, too. David carried the giant's head 
into Jerusalem and the people praised him more 
than they did Saul. An evil spirit entered into 
Saul and he tried to kill David under the pre- 
tense that it was accidental, but afterward he 

9 



130 THK DOOR OPKNKD. 

gave him his daughter for a wife, provided he 
should kill one hundred Philistines. Glad of the 
opportunity to become famous in winning a wife, 
he did this at once. Saul's purpose was not to 
give his daughter in marriage to David, but to 
get him killed and out of his way ; so Saul hated 
him because the power of God was with him in 
everything he did. Saul fouud out that David 
sought the Lord through the Priests, so he sent 
and slew eighty-five of them, besides many 
women and children in the land of Nob where 
the Priests dwelt, but one escaped who came to 
David to tell -him all that Saul had done. Saul 
was king over Israel forty years, but David was 
secretly anointed king over Judah about five 
years before the tragical death of Saul, at which 
time he went up to Jerusalem and dispossessed 
the Jesubites of their city, for the Lord was with 
him and all Israel came to him. 

Then Satan came to him and provoked him 
to number the people. This proud king with 
his 1,500,000 soldiers went into the ways of evil 
on account of his great power. His enemy 
worked on him through his pride and the result 
of the evil was complete when the pestilence 
wrought by the hand of the destroying angel 
left 70,000 people in the cold embrace of death. 
The angel which David saw with drawn sword 
was over the city to destroy it, and David re- 
pented and turned to the Lord. 






SATAN AT WORK. 



Ill carrying out his obligation to the God of 
Heaven he established the service of the Lord 
according to all the law of Moses, the servant of 
God. The next king, David's son Solomon, 
reigned in his stead and built the Temple in Je- 
rusalem. These eighty years of David and Sol- 
omon were times of refreshing, abundance and 
prosperity ; so much so that they stand like an 
Oasis in a desert of rebellion and sin. 

All the kings that followed them down to 
Hezekiah led the people by the hand of evil an- 
gels to destroy the knowledge of God in the 
earth. Four hundred years of infamy and crime 
and debauchery in which Satan delights his soul, 
brings us in sight of the wicked Jezebel, wife of 
King Ahab. She had 450 prophets of Baal and 
as many priests to minister. Her work was 
that of establishing Idolatry in Samaria and de- 
stroying the Prophets of the Lord. Elijah came 
to their rescue with a trial on Mt. Carmel to see 
whether the Lord or Baal be God ; for he said, 
" If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal 
be God, then follow him, and the God that an- 
swereth by fire, let him be God." At this time 
the king took the prophets of Baal and slew r 
them. 

It is strange to us as we look at this history, 
the Lord on the one hand has the schools of the 
Prophets, and Satan has his, each destroying the 
other. This strife between these two opposing 



132 THE DOOR OPENED. 

spirits has come before us so plainly at different 
times that we are able to see which of them has. 
gained a victory. 

When Nebuchadnezar came up against Jeru- 
salem and burned the city and carried the vessels 
of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and slew 
the people, except a few which he took prisoners, 
it would seem like an unequal struggle. At one 
time Solomon was the king of all men, but now 
the power is in the hand of the king of Babylon. 
Daniel said to Nebuchadnezar " Thou art that 
head of gold." Satan delights in destroying 
God's people, not alone to destroy the good they 
do, but to destroy every individual, soul and 
body ; every evil influence that the angels of 
Satan have at their command are set to work 
upon every highway of the soul. The angels of 
Satan are exhibited as a host of pernicious in- 
dividuals known to God's people as the children 
of the Devil. They begin their work on the lit- 
tle children by teaching the child that it is free 
to do as it pleases, stirring the feeling that it 
is a detestable thing to be controlled or ruled by 
the parent or any one else. You will see Satan's 
influence in the child that is disobedient ; then 
again when obedience is demanded and enforced 
they fret under the yoke of parental authority. 
Another evil angel shows itself in what we call 
temper, develops more and more continually, 
until hatred and fierce anger stirs up the senti- 



SATAN AT WORK 1 33 

ment of resentment and cruelty. The child is 
now ready to fight. Following this comes an- 
other evil angel teaching the child to be deceit- 
ful and untruthful. Then another evil spirit 
called pride comes in to assert the independence 
of the individual, which develops into a kind of 
contorted self-respect which adds dignity to the 
actions of the soul until it feels able to take care 
of itself. Then the sentiment of self-gratifica- 
tion comes up and proposes to supply the indi- 
vidual with all its wants. This is a hard thing 
to do at all times since these wants generally 
imply the cost of more or less labor on the part 
of the individual. Then this labor is more or 
less distasteful and indolence cuts off the supply 
of the things necessary for the gratification of 
the evil propensities. Then the evil spirit sug- 
gests the idea of getting what we want without 
price from those who have them ; but in order 
to do this it is necessary to get them without 
their knowledge, that is, by theft. Any inter- 
ference of others to prevent this is not pleasant, 
but there must be a way which seems to be right 
to get these things without its being considered 
theft. So the individual becomes a speculator 
in a business where the amount of profit may 
not be known and where deception, advantage 
and robbery take the name of business tact. 
This business tact takes to itself the glory of 
helping others. While it helps the speculator a 



134 THE DOOR OPENED. 

great deal, it helps the needy a little, possibly, 
or perhaps not any, and the speculator puts the 
whole profit in his own pocket, betraying those 
who confided in his honesty by telling them 
that his speculation turned against him and 
therefore he is at a great loss. There is no law 
that reaches this kind of robbery, except the 
man becomes a common thief like men who place 
mortgages on household goods of widows, until 
they have their very life blood drawn out drop 
by drop. 

This is the exact course of soul development 
when the evil agencies lead the way, but it is 
not often the case that they have complete con- 
trol, for God has set his oivn sentinel in every 
soul to speak out his condemnation as often as 
violated law demands, but very often so very 
many evil influences are brought to bear upon 
the formation of character that they lead thesoul 
in the paths of evil more and more. Christ comes 
to the rescue of many souls by casting out Dev- 
ils, and that soul walks evermore in the highway 
of holiness led by the spirit of God. 

This road of which I speak is the journey of 
life from the cradle to the grave. At the foot 
of the road on both sides the light of Heaven 
penetrates the surrounding gloom into which 
we can not enter without endangering our soul, 
but along the phantom shades of this dark for- 
est the spirits peep and mutter. Some are more 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 35 

bold than others and are called " familiar spir- 
its, witches, magicians and astrologers." They 
are all prepared to lead yon into the mysteries 
of the unknown world. They tell you that it 
is not dark back in the woods when you leave 
the streak of light, and there are many beauti- 
ful shades behind the curtain of the night. Be- 
tween the highway and the forest along the 
way, there are pictures of things of earth and 
Heaven. Then in front of these on both sides, 
are many enticements to evil. The saloon is one 
place that skirts the highway of nearly every 
life and there is no safety to the one who stops 
to admire the form of the fallen angels. 

The struggle of life goes on between Christ 
and Satan, and the spirit of God draws right on, 
up to the prize at the end of the way, so that if 
the soul is loosed from God for one moment the 
evil spirits draw him back and show him all the 
sights along the way, and unless some strong 
angel takes hold on the individual and keep him 
in the way, he will go in the dark and explore 
the unknown after he is given the key by the 
astrologers and be lost forever. 

The wise king, Solomon, went out in the 
woods and built temples for the worship of the 
Idols of the nations around Jerusalem. Solo- 
mon, the wise king, turned to listen to the voice 
of evil angels which enticed him away from the 
service of the true God. He loved many strange 



136 THE DOOR OPENED. 

women, together with, the daughter of Pharoah, 
women of the Moabites, Edomites, Zidonites and 
Hittites, 700 wives in all, and 300 concubines. 
These enticed him when he was an old man to 
go aside and worship Ash tore th, the goddess of 
the Zidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of 
the Ammonites. Then he built a high place, 
Chemosh, the abomination of Moab in the hill 
that is before Jerusalem, and for Moloch in the 
valley of Hinom. He and his strange wives 
burned incense and sacrificed unto these Idols. 
The result of Solomon's wickedness was far- 
reaching and disastrous to himself and those 
about him, for Jerusalem was as a Bride adorned 
with fine jewels without any virtue and without 
any shame. Jeremiah, the Prophet, says, "The 
Lion is come up out of his thicket and the de- 
stroyer of the Gentiles is on his way, he is gone 
forth from his place to make thy land desolate, 
and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an in- 
habitant ; the Prophets prophesy falsely and the 
Priests bear rule by their means. As a fountain 
casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her 
wickedness; violence and spoil is heard in her, 
for from the least of them even to the greatest 
of them every one is given to covetousness, and 
from the Prophet even unto the Priest, every 
one dealeth falsely." 

A condition like this in which depravity was 
so complete and outbroken furnished a feast for 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 37 

the god of tli is world. The valley of Hinom 
resounded with the echoes of Hell when Moloch 
embraced the innocent babes, for his arms were 
a cradle of fire. The valley of Hinom became 
in time a city of the dead until there was no 
more room to bury there. The destroying agen- 
cies at last took hold on death and gave their 
houses to the flames. 

It will be seen from the foregoing that all 
people of whatever name or nation they might 
be were a religious people. The king, priest and 
prophet were in every land and there was no ne- 
cessity for any one to say , " Come let us go up to 
the house of the Lord," because in every nation 
the people depended on the gods for suscess and 
prosperity. If they succeeded in any enterprise 
of business or war the}' gave thanks to their gods 
because they believed that when they were suc- 
cessful the} T had his favor, while, on the other 
hand, if they suffered defeat, it was attributed to 
their wickedness. Thus they became their own 
accusers, not being under any other law than the 
law which experience teaches ; they became a law 
unto themselves. But with Israel this was not 
so, for whereas they knew the law of the Living 
God, their disobedience to that law rendered unto 
themselves a just recompense. 

iVs the Jews looked back over the abomina- 
tions that were practiced in Jerusalem, as they 
looked back on their own follies, when they saw 



138 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the former glory of the House of God polluted 
with unholy things and their city given to de- 
struction, u then they wept when they remem- 
bered Zion." It was justice executed when they 
became captives in a strange land. They were 
like seed carried on the wings of the wind to a 
far country. From a spiritual point of view Sa- 
tan had taken them to his own home where they 
might rest secure from the ravages of war ; but 
it were impossible that God would suffer his 
holy ones to see affliction beyond what they 
might endure. The Psalmist says, " Whither 
shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I 
flee from thy presence ; if I ascend into Heaven 
thou art there, if I make my bed in Hell, be- 
hold ! thou art there." 

In Babylon's fiery furnace cast, three chil- 
dren walked amidst the fiery flames unhurt. 
They sang their praises unto God, but they were 
not alone, for when the king looked in, he saw 
one like the Son of God. He called them out ; 
their garments did not even smell of smoke. 
Then Daniel prayed three times a day, against 
the king's decree. For this they cast him in the 
lion's den expecting him to be their food, but 
Daniel's God had stopped the lion's mouth so 
that his life was safe. 

This Babylon, where people worshiped every- 
thing but God was Satan's very throne. But 
after this trying ordeal was over Daniel took 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 39 

command and was the means of his people being 
sent away to build Jerusalem again. The priests 
of Bel were slain with all their wives and chil- 
dren. Everything the)' worshiped was destroyed, 
and King Darius made a decree and wrote to all 
people, nations and languages that dwell in all 
the Earth, " that men tremble and fear before 
the God of Daniel, for he is the Living God and 
steadfast forever, and his kingdom that which 
shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be 
even unto the end" 

The king of Persia gave the Jews their lib- 
erty and an abundance of gold and all the vessels 
of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezer, 
king of Babylon, had carried away from the 
house of God. He also levied a tax for the sup- 
port of the sacrifices and other expenses for the 
worship of God in Jerusalem. 

It is my purpose to show as we go along, the 
manner of Satan's work, and I do not see any- 
where a more exact description of his w 7 ork than 
that exhibited when the Jews undertook to re- 
build their city and the house of the Lord. 
Zecariah, the Prophet, saw in a vision Joshua, 
the High Priest, standing before the angel of 
the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand 
to resist him (the Lord.) The Priesthood had 
been polluted in the worship of idols. The an- 
gel of the Lord said to those that stood before 
him, " Take away the filthy garments from him, 



140 THE DOOR OPENED. 

behold ! I will clothe thee with a change of rai- 
ment. I have cansed thine iniquit}^ to pass from 
thee, behold the stone that I have laid before 
Joshua, npon one stone shall be seven eyes." 
This stone is Christ, and the seven eyes are the 
seven churches of Asia which were afterward es- 
tablished by Paul. Another figure used to rep- 
resent Christ and his peeple ; as a golden candle- 
stick, with a bowl upon the top of it and his 
seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven 
lamps which are on the top thereof, and the two 
Olive trees by it, the one on the right hand and 
the other on the left. These two Olive trees 
supply the oil for the lamps. Two annointed 
ones, two witnesses — 

THE WORD OF GOD 

AND 

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 

About the time that the Jews were going up 
to build Jerusalem, the adversaries of Judah and 
Benjamin came up and said, " let us build with 
you for Ave seek your God as ye do." The Jews 
told them that they should have nothing to do 
with the house of our God; so they troubled 
them in building and hired counselors against 
them to frustrate their purposes all the time 
Cyrus was king of Persia, and sent letters to Ar- 
taxerzes, the king, saying, " the Jews that came 






SATAN AT WORK. 141 

up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem 
building the rebellious and bad city and have 
set the walls thereof and joined the foundations. 
Be it known now unto the king, that if the city 
be builded and the walls set up again, then will 
they not pay toll, tribute and custom, and so 
thou shalt endanger the revenue of the 
king, now because we have maintenance from 
the king's palace and it is not meet for us to see 
the king dishonored, therefore we have certified 
the king that a search may be made in the book 
of the records of thy fathers, so shalt thou find 
in the book of the records and know that this 
is a rebellious city and hurtful unto kings and 
provinces and that they have moved sedition 
within the same of old time. We certify the 
king that if this city be builded again, and the 
walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt 
have no portion on this side of the river." The 
king answered his officers in Samaria and com- 
manded them to stop the work till they should 
get another commandment. 

It was several years before everything was 
completed, but the king of Persia and Babylon 
both protected them by a decree " that none 
should hinder them under the penalty of being 
hung." In the twentieth year of the reign of 
Artaxerzes, son of Cyrus, king of Persia, Nehe- 
miah, a cup-bearer unto the king, was made gov- 
ernor in Judea, and received permission to build 



142 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the gates and finish the wall of Jerusalem. 
Their enemies from Samaria again came np 
against them, and they built the wall in troublous 
times. Every man worked under guards, and 
they on the Avail with a sword at each one's side 
in one hand and a trowel in the other hand. 
Here begins the famous seventy weeks till the 
passion of Mesiah spoken by Daniel the Prophet. 
The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety 
years that follow, bring us to the establishment 
of the kingdom of Christ, where we closed the 
preceding chapter. 

During these seventy weeks of Daniel's vis- 
ion the four winds of heaven have strewn upon 
the great sea of (humanity) Greece, Rome, 
Egypt and Western Asia have been rocked in 
the cradle of the deep. Thrones have crumbled 
into dust ; Babylon has fallen and become the 
haunt of the fowls of heaven. The Jewish dis- 
pensation has only a reflected light of the Son 
of Righteousness, " the sun with the moon under 
her feet." The fourth beast of Daniel has passed 
through and overthrown and trodden down the 
Empires of the earth, and the king of the North 
hath planted his tabernacle between the seas in 
his glorious, holy mountain and Rome rules the 
world. 

Such was the situation when the angels sang 
their song to the shepherds in the night. Now 
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 43 

the days of Herod, the king, behold ! there came 
wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, 
" Where is he that is born king of the Jews, for 
we have seen his star in the East and are come 
to worship him." At this Herod was greatly 
troubled, so he called all the chief Priests and 
Scribes to him to inquire where Christ should be 
born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. 
Then Herod called the wise men and said to 
them, "go and seek the young child, and when ye 
have found him, come again and tell me, that I 
may go and worship him also." 

. Joseph being warned in a dream that Herod 
sought the young child's life, rose up and took 
the child and Mary, its mother, and went into 
Egypt where he remained until after the death 
of that king. When Herod saw that those he 
sent to find Jesus did not return, he was angry 
and sent forth and slew all the children in his 
kingdom from two years old and under in order 
that he might kill Christ. 

Herod was king in Judea, which at that time 
was a part of the Roman Empire, and Herod 
was a Roman. His Satanic designs toward 
Christ were frustrated however, and the life of 
the Holy One of God was safe until his work on 
Earth were done. John, the Revelator, in the 
twelfth chapter, says : " And there appeared a 
great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with 
the sun (Christ) and the moon (Jews) under her 



144 THE DOOR OPENED. 

feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars 
(apostles.) And there appeared another wonder 
in heaven, and behold ! a great, red Dragon hav- 
ing seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns 
upon his head. The Dragon persecuted the 
woman that brought forth the man-child, and 
she fled from the face of the serpent into the 
wilderness (Egypt), where she remained three 
years and six months, " and the Dragon made 
war with the remnant of her seed which have 
the testimony of Jesus Christ." This means the 
infants which Herod slaughtered. In the same 
chapter the Dragon is called the Devil and Sa- 
tan, which was cast out of Heaven when all his 
angels were cast out with him. Satan had great 
wrath when God was revealed in the flesh be- 
cause he felt the throne of his empire trem- 
bling in the mighty conflict between himself 
and Christ. His angels were gathered from 
the four corners of the earth to overthrow 
the power of Heaven. These entered into 
every man in Judea and Jerusalem who might 
be of any aid in deciding the greatest battle 
of the Ages : King, Priest, Sanhedrin,* Soldier, 
Pharisee and Saducee. His fierce anger burned 
the flesh of the Leper, convulsed the Epileptic 
and chained the Maniac in the dwellings of the 
dead. Satan boldly approached the Son of 
God to ask him to surrender. His conditions 
of peace were like the following: " The domin- 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 45 

ion of this world is in my hand, I have the 
treasures of the earth at my command ; I offer 
men the gratification of all hnman desires, I 
give them all the pleasures of this world, I 
enable them to possess to the fullest extent of 
their wish the good that others enjoy. If you 
will fall down and worship me I will bestow 
all these upon thee." Then Jesus said, " Get 
thee behind me, Satan, it is written thou shalt 
worship the Lord, thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve." But Satan knew that Jesus had 
taken no food for forty days, so he said, " If 
thou be the Son of God command that these 
stones be made bread ;" Jesus said, " It is writ- 
ten that man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word of God." Then he took Jesus to 
a high part of the wall, which inclosed the Tem- 
ple, saying, " Cast thyself down, for it is written 
' He hath given his angels charge over thee, lest 
thou dash thy foot against a stone/ " Jesus re- 
plied, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy 
God." Satan left him here, and went away very 
much disappointed in Jesus. After this he w^ent 
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might 
devour. 

John the Baptist was cast into prison for re- 
proving Herod, the Tetrarch of Gallilee, for his 
evil ways ; and Jesus went into his own native 
Nazareth and preached in the synagogue, but 

the evil spirits drove him out of the place ; then 
10 



246 THE DOOR OPENED. 

he came to Capernaum. Now there was a man 
in the synagogue having the spirit of an unclean 
devil, and he cried with a loud voice, saying, 
" Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth, I know 
thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God ;" but 
Jesus rebuked him, saying, " Hold thy peace 
and come out of him, and when the Devil had 
thrown him in the midst, he came out of him. 
The testimony before us says, the Devil came 
out of many, saying, " Thou art the Son of 
God." At another time there was a maniac in 
the tombs which cried with the voice of many 
Devils, saying, " Our name is Legion " and beg- 
ging him not to destroy them, but to let them 
depart and enter into a herd of swine which 
were feeding on the hill, and so he let them go 
into the swine and they ran down a steep place 
and perished in the sea. The Devils then found 
some other receptacle, but I cite this circum- 
stance to show that when Christ so chose, the 
Devils obeyed. (It is not even in the power 
of God to annihilate an evil angel). 

When the wrath of Satan had stirred up the 
people, the time came that Satan entered into 
Judas and he came out to the place where Jesus 
was praying in the Mount of Olives and kissed 
Jesus, so that the mob with swords and staves 
would take him to give him a mock trial, which 
they did. They took him to Pontius Pilate, but 
he said to the Priests and the people, " I find no 



SATAN AT WORK. 1 47 

fault in him," and sent Him to Herod the Tet- 
rarch of Galilee (who was in Jerusalem at this 
time.) 

At once the chief Priests and scribes stood 
and vehemently accused him, and Herod and 
his men of war set him at naught and mocked 
him and arrayed him in a gorgeous wrobe and 
sent him to Pilate again, who tried to pacify the 
people ; but it was useless for him to oppose 
them, so he let them have their way and they 
took him and crucified him ; but he arose from 
the dead, and appeared first to Mary Magdalene, 
out of whom he had cast seven Devils. 

The work of Satan thus exhibited in human 
form has left the world a history of his diaboli- 
cal work, nature and disposition. The mean, 
sensual, devilish contortions of mind and mat- 
ter have brought to pass the promise of God to 
Adam in Eden : " The seed of a woman shall 
bruise the Serpent's head and the Serpent shall 
bruise His heel." 






CHAPTER V. 

THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 

The threshing-floor of Oman, the Jesubite, 
prefigures the history of mankind from one 
end to the other, Time and Eternity, life and 
death, peace and war, wheat and chaff, sin and 
righteousness, Hell and Heaven, God and Satan, 
penitance and praise. This floor is the stage of 
human existence. Here the powers of Earth and 
Heaven flail out the life time of man. Here the 
four winds of heaven separate the reighteous from 
the wicked ; here the perfume of praise goes up 
to God ; here the fire comes down from Heaven 
in sight of men, and the angel of death stands 
over it with drawn sword, with feet spanning 
Time and Eternity, proclaiming the redemption 
of man from the flames of Eternal torment, 
whose smoke goes up forever and ever. The 
grain of corn shall shake the mountains and 
the son of righteousness shall give light to the 
city. From the house-tops of her holy moun- 
tain the sounding trump shall speak in thunder 
tones from Heaven till earth's remotest nations 
hear the mighty word of God. Beside her stand 
148 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 49 

the two olive trees which feed the flame of Di- 
vine life ; before her stand the two witnesses of 
God to tell the wondrous story of his undying 
love ; around her walls the seven spirits sing sal- 
vation full and free. Behold ! the King cometh 
with ten thousand of his saints and the white 
horse of Heaven runs over the way of the wicked 
and grindeth them to powder, while the East 
wind carries them out of sight ; by the breath 
of his nostrils are they consumed till the place 
that knew them once shall know them no more 
forever. 

Behold! he cometh, and they cast their 
crowns before him, for the bells on the horses 
are holiness unto the Lord, and he is clothed in 
a vesture dipped in blood and on his vesture and 
on his thigh a new name written, " King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords ;" and his name shall 
be called "The Word of God, whose kingdom is 
an everlasting kingdom, and to whose dominion 
there shall be no end." 

John, the Revelator, says: "And there ap- 
peared a great wonder in heaven ; a woman 
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her 
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." 
The woman is the visible church of Christ; 
Her clothing is Light: "Ye are the light of 
the world." Christ is the sun of righteousness; 
the visible church is the embodiment of the 
Living Christ (the spirit which dwelleth in 



150 THE DOOR OPENED. 

them.) The twelve stars are the twelve Apos- 
tles, whose mission it was to revolve around the 
Snn (of Righteousness) to reflect his light to 
every nation of the Earth. This is a beauti- 
ful figure ; if we look at the natural heavens 
when the sun is set and night comes on, we can 
not see the sun, and the darkness would be total 
were it not for the moon and the stars, which 
are in such a position to the sun that he shines 
upon them, and makes of them smaller suns, 
which give us light in the night, so that we can 
find our way. 

When Christ was upon the earth there was in- 
tense light, but when he left the earth, instead 
of leaving men to grope around in the dark, he 
set his stars in the heavens (kingdom of Heaven) 
(the Apostles) to give light unto mankind. The 
moon under her feet represents the Mosaic dis- 
pensation, which did not give a clear light of it- 
self because it was not accompanied by the Word 
of God, bearing the glad tidings of salvation. 
This figure which is like the natural heavens 
has also another meaning. On moonlight nights 
it is much lighter than it is at other times, so 
that we have every degree of light from star- 
light to full moon ; so God has ordered for 
beauty and refreshing seasons of greater light 
as if to give us a foretaste of Heaven. This 
greater light shines at all times, but while its 
light is increasing in one place it is decreasing 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 151 

in another place, for the heart of man is not in 
a condition to endure this light at all times. 
God's government proceeds regularly, according 
as he hath decreed, and with regard to what we 
call a spirit of revival ; these come at their 
proper time, God's time, a time appointed. We 
are told to pray without ceasing, but to " wait 
on the Lord," earnestly desiring, persevering, 
continuing steadfast, hoping, looking for the 
promise, for " in due time we shall reap if we 
faint not." These visitations of great light 
come regularly so that there is no chance about 
it. The natural heavens are a pattern of these 
things. "The heavens declare the glory of God 
and the firmament showeth his handiwork, day 
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge," but sin obscures our vis- 
ion ; at times our eyes are blinded so that we do 
not see and our ears are closed so that we will 
not hear. 

The Jews would not listen to the Prophets, 
so we, stop our ears with iniquity so that we 
do not understand the voice of the spirit under 
these circumstances. These great lights come 
and go and we know it not. The Christian who 
never sees these rays of light is in a very dark 
condition, and the church that does not have 
these seasons of refreshing from the presence of 
the Lord is certainly in a very sad plight. They 
are like the foolish virgins who had no oil in 



152 THE DOOR OPENED. 

their lamps when the bridegroom came. The 
two olive trees (the word and the spirit) stand 
before the whole earth to feed the flame of the 
light of the world, bnt if the light is gone out 
there is no way left but to fill the lamp from 
the tree of life (Christ) which fills his two golden 
bowls with the oil of Divine grace. The word 
of God and the spirit of God stand side by side 
and witness in all the earth that " in Him is 
light and in Him no darkness at all." When 
your lamps are full the fire will come down from 
heaven and give you light that you may shine 
in a dark place. The kingdom of Heaven is the 
kingdom of Christ on earth which began in Je- 
rusalem when the Holy Ghost stood on every 
man in cloven tongues of living light, as a 
crown of fire coming out of the heads of men. 
The Apostles were commanded to u go into all 
the w T orld and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture." 

Christ gave us a good many likenesses of 
the kingdom of Heaven in parables, because it 
was necessary to compare spiritual things with 
natural things in order that we might be given 
a knowledge of things necessary unto Eternal 
life. We will review these here so that we may 
learn the difference between Heaven and the 
kingdom of Heaven. I have been taught in the 
schools of the prophets all my life, but the teach- 
ers seem to have forgotten the weightier things 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 53 

of the law. To remedy this defect as far as 
possible, let us examine the Scriptures and see 
if we can find out the object, working and result 
of the administration of the kingdom of Grace. 
In those days came John the Baptist, saying, 
" Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand." Then came Jesus, and spake: " Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God and his reighteous- 
ness ;" " Enter ye in at the straignt gate" and 
" beware of false prophets which come to you 
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are raven- 
ing wolves." " By their fruits ye shall know 
them. A good tree can not bring forth evil 
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good 
fruit." But the people did not understand what 
the kingdom of Heaven was like, so he spoke in 
a parable, saying, " Behold a sower went forth 
to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by 
the wayside and the fowls came and devoured 
them up. Some fell upon stony places where 
there was not much earth and forthwith they 
sprang up because they had no deepness of earth, 
and when the sun was up they were scorched and 
because they had no root they withered away ; 
and some fell among thorns and the thorns 
sprung up and choked them ; but others fell in- 
to good ground and brought forth fruit, some a 
hundred, some sixty and some thirty-fold. When 
the word of the Lord is spoken to people who 
do not understand, they are not thoroughly con- 



154 THE DOOR OPENED. 

vinced of its truth and trie evil influences of 
the world devours it, and it does them no 
good. Then there are people that are physically 
incapable of deep conviction. They like to hear, 
but are not influenced by what they hear. Then 
there is another class that would receive the 
word, but they have done evil so long that their 
evil natures are hard to overcome. And, again, 
there are people that hear the word, obey its 
commands and yield fruit as they have oppor- 
tunity. 

The first duty then of those that enter the 
kingdom of Christ is to sow the seed, preach 
the gospel to every creature, and when they do 
this the kingdom is like a net that is cast into 
the sea, which, when it was full, they drew it 
to shore and gathered the good into vessels, but 
cast the bad away, so shall it be in the end of 
the world, the angels shall come forth and sever 
the wicked from the just. Then, again, the 
the kingdom of heaven is like a certain man 
that planted a vineyard and let it forth to hus- 
bandmen and went into a far country for a long 
time. And again the kingdom of heaven is like 
ten virgins, and five were wise and five were 
foolish, and at midnight there was a cry, " Be- 
hold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet 
him !" but the foolish virgins had no oil in their 
lamps, so when they went to buy, the Bridegroom 
came, and they that were ready went in with him 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 155. 

and the door was shut , so shall it be in the end 
of the world ; two shall be grinding at the mill, 
the- one shall be taken and the other left. 
*' Watch ye, therefore, and pray that ye may be 
able to stand when the Son of Man cometh " 

Jerusalem is located very near the center of 
the population of the globe. The borders of 
the Mediterranean Sea have been peopled from 
the remotest time. Within a radius of three 
hundred miles all the great empires of the 
Eastern Continent have existed. Europe, Asia 
and Africa enclose the Great Sea ; on its eastern 
bank is the memorable land which God gave by 
promise to the children of Abraham in their 
generations ; on the north the mountain of Italy 
reaches its arm far out into the sea ; above the 
Holy Land and east of Rome is Antioch, where 
the disciples of Christ were first called Chris- 
tians. It is no wonder then that Jerusalem is 
called the city of the King. On this sacred, 
height the New Jerusalem let down from Heaven 
will rest by and by. The kingdom of Heaven 
was set up here at a time when the Roman Em- 
pire held dominion over nearly all the people of 
the Earth. The government of the world was 
ruled by Caesar. The Empire was divided into 
ten kingdoms, but was ruled by only seven 
kings, for that little horn that Daniel mentions 
had plucked up three of the kingdoms. This 
was the condition of things described by John. 



I56 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the Apostle, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem 
of Jndea. 

The Roman Government from its earliest 
history has been a government administered 
through the voice of the Priesthood. It maybe 
that they patterned after the Jewish nation, but 
of this I am not sure. The Jewish people were 
governed by priests and the Sanhedrim (seventy 
Elders.) The law of Moses seems to have made 
a foundation of law for the government of all 
nations. The early church of Rome was a mix- 
ture of all religions and creeds. The govern- 
ment, while recognizing Jesus as a great Prophet, 
did not object to the worship of any god that 
had been invented by men. Great liberty was 
given to the subjects of Rome until the time 
came when they desired a universal religious 
service. This does not seem to have affected 
any but the Jews, who were greatly persecuted 
150 years B. C. ; but at the time of Christ, aside 
from the local disturbance occasioned by his 
birth, the Empire gave very little heed to this 
new sect. The Jews went into possession of their 
land by the slaughter of millions, and conse- 
quently they were hated alike by all the Gen- 
tile world. For their backsliding they were 
given in bondage to the nations around them 
time and again. They had rebuilt Jerusalem 
under cover of arms and were a people who be- 
lieved that only a few of the inhabitants of the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 57 

Earth had the favor of God, and that they were 
that particular few, so that they were persecuted 
and hated by all the people around them. As 
subjects of the Roman Empire they were dealt 
with as a nation within an Empire. While all 
the other religious sects were ruled alike and all 
allowed to worship as they pleased as long as 
they paid tribute to Caesar. The Jews refused to 
pay this tribute and consequently were finally 
ruined. The Jews in consequence of all their af- 
flictions expected Christ to be their king and at 
their head go out in mighty conflict against their 
enemies, and once again restore the nation to its 
former glory and power, the terror of all the 
earth. They read the Prophets in this light 
until their selfishness and inborn cruelty became 
so great that Christ likened them to " whitened 
sepulchers, full of dead men's bones and all un- 
cleanness. They didn't seem to rise to the Rev- 
elation of the Age where God would reveal him- 
self by the gift of his Son to shed his blood for 
the sin of many. The people, or nation, or indi- 
vidual, that is not willing to share their bless- 
ings with others are not worthy to receive any 
good from the hand of a kind Heavenly Father. 
They had Priests that were self-constituted, and 
yet of the order of the sons of Levi and the 
house of David, so that they knew exactly all 
the minute circumstances of the birth, character 
and mission of Christ and his forerunner John 



I58 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the Baptist, so that when Herod called the chief 
Priests and the Elders, they told him that the 
king of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem 
of Jndea. I don't know whether they told him 
any of their private views or not, bnt at any rate 
they satisfied him that this new king of the 
Jews wonld take his kingdom from him, because 
immediately after his conference with them his 
cruel nature suggested the idea of slaying all 
the children in his kingdom in order to defeat 
the power that in the end should overthrow his 
kingdom. 

Christ came not as a temporal, but as a spir- 
itual king, to exercise dominion in the hearts of 
men, and instead of having great wealth and 
power and pride, he was just the reverse. He 
came not to bring peace, but a sword ; which 
meant the conflict of principles between the 
powers of light and the powers of darkness, be- 
tween Christ and Satan. The burnished pride 
and hypocrisy of the Pharisees was brought low 
by the sword of his words of condemnation. 
They wanted him out of the way, but didn't 
want to violate one of the laws of Moses, so 
they pretended to be friends of Rome by saying, 
when asked if Christ were the king of the Jews, 
" We know no king but Caesar." They were al- 
lowed to have Christ crucified according to their 
wish. The powers of Hell were let loose to 
carry out the plan necessary for the salvation of 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 59 

men out of every tribe and tongue and nation 
and people. Such, was the situation of things 
and such was the state of men's minds when the 
kingdom of Heaven began its struggle against 
the powers of darkness. You will say at once 
that this time was one that certainly could not 
be considered as a time fully ripe for such a 
movement, or that the w r orld demanded a change 
in religious affairs ; but to ease the mind of the 
reader on the subject, Christ said, " My kingdom 
is not of this world." The voice that spake from 
Heaven at the baptism in Jordan, said : " This 
is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased ;" 
and John the Baptist, said: " Behold the Lamb 
of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." 
This was all the introduction Jesus needed 
to recommend him to the sinner. His ministry 
and his authority and power place before the 
world the evidence of his Divinity. His Apos- 
tles were given power over the world, the flesh 
and the Devil, so that even unclean spirits were 
obedient unto them. The power of God was 
theirs to use in the interest of the kingdom of 
Heaven. This kingdom received into its com- 
munion more than twenty thousand souls within 
a few days of their first meeting. Then, the 
Holy Ghost came down on about three thousand 
and filled their souls with joy and peace in be- 
lieving that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. 
There were gathered together on that memor- 



l6o THE DOOR OPENED. 

able occasion people out of every tribe and na- 
tion and tongue. 

We can never overestimate the power of 
Pentecost when we remember that each one born 
into the kingdom of grace would carry the tid- 
ings home of Jesus and his love. The people 
sold their possessions and had all things in com- 
mon, which was distributed to every one as each 
had need. Things were strange and new to them 
and they were so happy they may perhaps have 
nearly forgotten the injunction of their Master. 
" Go ye into all the world and preach the Gos- 
to every creature/' until fear of their personal 
safety compelled them to seek quarters more re- 
mote from Jerusalem. Here Satan stirred up 
the wicked Jews to put a stop to the preaching 
that Christ died to save sinners and rose again 
for their justification. Although the Jews were 
instrumental in bringing about the death of Je- 
sus, they didn't like to hear Peter say, " that 
they had taken and with cruel hands had slain 
Jesus," for they said, "we must stop these men 
for they have filled all Jerusalem with their doc- 
trine and intend to bring this man's blood upon 
us." So they scourged them and commanded 
them not to teach any more in this name; but 
when they put some of the disciples in prison 
and an angel let them out and commanded them 
to go stand in the Temple and speak all the 
words of this life, they were bold to preach 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. l6l 

Christ and him crucified, and gloried in the 
privilege of being scourged and cast into prison 
for the sake of Christ. 

When Stephen preached his greatest and last 
sermon, giving a complete history of how the 
Jews had treated God and rebelled against him 
while they were given charge of the Law and 
were led by the ministration of angels and how 
they killed the Prophets and slew the Son of 
God who rose again to their condemnation, 
but for the justification of many, they stoned 
Stephen till he gave up the ghost. When he 
was unable to stand up any longer he saw 
Heaven and cried, " I see Heaven opened and 
Christ sitting at the right hand of God on the 
throne of Heaven," and he died commending 
the blessing of God on them, and praying " Lay 
not this sin to their charge." The Saducees 
did this because he preached the doctrine of the 
Resurrection which they did not believe in, but 
Stephen's dying testimony to them and to us is 
that " He ever liveth to make intercession for 
us, and that he is set down on the throne of the 
Majesty on high." This death of the first Chris- 
tian martyr was sufficient to scatter the disci- 
ples (except the Apostles) to all the regions 
round about and they went everywhere preach- 
ing the word. 

Satan stirred up great persecution against 

the disciples, and Saul went from house to house 
ii 



1 62 THE DOOR OPENED. 

dragging men and women to prison. Then he 
went to the High Priest and desired of him let- 
ters to the officers of the synagogue of Damas- 
cus, that if he found any of this way, whether 
they were men or women, that he might bring 
them bound to Jerusalem. As he came near Da- 
mascus, suddenly there shone round about him 
a light from Heaven, and he fell to the earth and 
heard a voice saying unto him, " Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me?" and he said, " Who art 
thou, Lord?" and the voice replied, " I am Jesus, 
whom thou persecutest !" Then he, trembling 
and astonished, said : " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do?" and the Lord said : " Arise and 
go into the city, and it will be told thee what 
thou must do." The men that were with him 
heard the voice and stood speechless. When 
Saul arose from the ground he was blind and 
the men that were with him led him, and he was 
in Damascus three days without sight, neither 
did he eat nor drink. Then Ananias, a disciple 
who was at Damascus, had a vision in which the 
Lord told him to go to the house of Judas, in 
the street that is called Straight, and inquire for 
one called Saul of Tarsus, " for behold he pray- 
eth, and hath seen in a vision a man named An- 
anias, coming in and putting his hands on him 
that he might receive his sight. Ananias, put- 
ting his hands on him, said: " Brother Saul, the 
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 63 

way as thou earnest, hath sent me that thou 
mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the 
Holy Ghost. Then the scales fell off his eyes 
and he was baptized, and when he received meat 
and was strengthened he went into the syna- 
gogue and preached that Christ is the Son of 
God. 

The Jews at Damascus knew all about how 
Saul had persecuted the believers, so when they 
learned that Christ had met him in the way and 
cast the Devils out of him to make him a chosen 
vessel to carry the glad tidings of salvation to 
the Gentiles, they made up their minds to kill 
kill him. Saul — Paul realized the danger and 
didn't attempt to go out of the gates of the 
city, for they watched for him day and night to 
kill him, so the disciples took him by night and 
let him down over the wall in a basket and he 
came to Jerusalem and joined the Apostles and 
spake boldly against the Grecians till they sought 
to kill him ; so the Apostles brought him down 
to Cesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. Saul 
had a curious experience ; he made havoc in the 
church at Jerusalem and then went to the out- 
skirts of the land, breathing out threatenings 
and slaughter. He was full of the Devil or he 
would have let other people's affairs alone ; but 
a time came when God took him in hand and 
put a stop to his mad career to let him 
know that hereafter his actions must be of a 



164 the: door opened. 

very different character. Now, when the disci- 
ples were scattered abont on account of the 
death of Stephen, they went as far as Antioch 
preaching Christ to the Grecians, and great 
numbers believed. When the tidings came to 
the church at Jerusalem they sent Barnabas to 
see about it, because the Apostles didn't think 
that Christ came to save anybody but the Jews. 
When Barnabas, who was a Christian, came to 
Antioch, he was glad and went to work to help 
them, and many people believed; so instead of 
going back to Jerusalem, he went to Tarsus to 
get Paul, and they came back to Antioch and 
they labored there for a whole year and taught 
many people. During that year some prophets 
came to Antioch and prophesied a famine. Then 
the people took up a collection and all the dis- 
ciples gave according to their ability, and they 
sent it by Paul and Barnabas to the church at 
Jerusalem. About this time Herod stretched 
forth his hand to vex certain of the Church and 
killed James, the brother of John, wkh the 
sword ; then he proceded to take Peter also, and 
he had put him in prison and set soldiers to 
watch, intending to bring him forth to the peo- 
ple after Easter. But the Church was praying 
for him all the time and the Lord sent an angel 
and took him out of prison and he came again to 
his friends, and they had great joy because God 
had answered their prayer to save Peter's life. 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 65 

Peter went down to Cesarea and took up his 
abode there. 

About this time the people of Tyre and Si- 
don came up to make peace with Herod, for he 
was much displeased with them. When he stood 
up to speak to them, they all cried with one ac- 
cord, "It is the voice of God." Herod gloried 
in the saying instead of giving the glory to 
God, so an angel smote him for this and he was 
eaten of worms and died. 

Paul, Barnabas and Mark went back to An- 
tioch to the Church. This church was a work- 
ing Church. Here the disciples were first called 
Christians. The first missionary journey of 
Paul, Barnabas and John, whose surname was 
Mark, began at Antioch. Paul was an Apostle 
to the Gentiles. His Epistles to the dif- 
ferent churches which are included in the 
New Testament scriptures offers us an idea of 
the magnitude of his work. His style is 
argumentative, logical and convincing. Paul 
was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew edu- 
cated in his own city (Tarsus), a place greatly 
renowned for its schools of learning. He fin- 
ished his education at Jerusalem, a pupil of 
Gamaliel, a Doctor of the Law, was well versed 
in the Old Testament Scriptures, and was a man 
of great energy and deep conviction ; just such a 
character as was fit to combat all the false relig- 
ion, superstitions and philosophies of a heathen 



1 66 THE DOOR OPENED. 

world. On him God wrote a new name, and sent 
him ont to preach Christ in all the borders of 
the Great Sea. His ministry continued from 
A. D. 36 to 63, when he became a prisoner of 
Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, but his 
words to-day are in the mouths of millions, who, 
like him can say, " I am not ashamed of the Gos- 
pel of Christ, for I am persuaded that it is the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that 
believeth, to the Jew first and also to the 
Greek." 

Beginning with the Christian era the Rev- 
elation was given for the rest of time to John, 
in the Isle of Patmos, A. D. 95. He says that 
the rest of the history of the world is contained 
in a book sealed with seven seals, and that 
Christ will open the seals one by one ; and he 
saw, when the Lamb had opened one of the seals, 
a white horse came forth and He that sat on 
him had a bow, and he went forth conquering 
and to conquer. " 

The horse is used figuratively to represent 
the flight of the Ages. Elisha who witnessed 
the ascension of the Prophet Elijah, saw a char- 
iot of fire, and he cried, " My Father ! My 
Father ! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen 
thereof." At the time of which Daniel speaks, 
saying, " He shall confirm the covenant with 
many for one week (seven years), but in the 
midst of the week shall Mesiah be cut off (cru- 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 67 

cined.)" "The bells of the horses were holiness 
unto the Lord." The natural manner of travel- 
ing for man is upon horseback or in some 
wheeled vehicle drawn by the horse. The ar- 
mies of the Nations have found the use of the 
horse indispensable. The horse will be a com- 
panion of man for all time, so this figure will 
be understood by the people of every age in the 
cycles of time. 

White is the emblem of purity. The white 
wrobe is the righteousness of saints. The 
white horse upon which Christ went forth con- 
quering and to conquer is representative of the 
faith and purity of the life and character of the 
believers of the Apostolic times. There is no 
doubt that at least thirty per cent of the popu- 
lation of the then known world were believers 
in Christ. The Christian religion went into all 
the cities near the coast of the Mediterranean 
Sea, not excepting Egypt, France, Italy and 
Greece. History records the fact that the 
church of Antioch embraced more than a hun- 
dred thousand Christians. The population of 
the city at that time is placed at 200,000. In 
those early times when the head of a family ac- 
cepted Christ, the whole family believed also 
and were baptised. The church of Antioch took 
care of 3,000 widows and orphans. This church 
became a benevolent institution upon its organ- 
ization, for they sent aid to the church at Jeru- 



168 THE DOOR OPENED. 

salem the first year of its existence when Paul 
preached for them. There was- a famine in the 
land at this time. The city of Rome opened her 
gates to Christianity ; people out of every na- 
tion went in and out continually, for her com- 
merce extended to all the world at this time. 
There were 7,000 Christians in Rome when the 
first knowledge of them and their Christ became 
known to the head authorities of the Empire 
which does not seem incredible among a popu- 
lation of 2,000,000. 

Babylon on the Euphrates, was once the re- 
ligious center of the world. Revelation de- 
scribes the historical condition of two cities 
whose relation to the world with regard to 
wealth, commerce and religion are just alike, 
and must come ineritably to the same end. The 
religious power of these two cities are of the 
same origin and must suffer the same revolution. 
The symbol of spirit power as used in the 
Scriptures represents the same power as it per- 
meates the minds of men at different periods of 
the world's history, so that while that power is 
still in existence, history repeats itself over and 
over again. Take Jerusalem for example ; the 
mountain where God chose to place his Name. 
There is no city in the long catalogue of hu- 
man congregations that has maintained a name 
throughout the generations amid such a variety 
of changing scenes of different degrees of afHic- 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 69 

tion or prosperity. The place is co-eternal with 
Deity, and the spot where the Lord met David 
and where Solomon bnilt the Temple was over 
the threshing-floor of Oman, the Jesubite. 
Other cities bnild up, flourish, die out and are 
forgotten ; not so with the cities where the spir- 
itual powers of Light or Darkness have written 
their name. 

Spirit w r arfare can not annihilate spirit life, 
but they will be driven from one field to another 
till Satan is finally consigned to his eternal 
destiny. The fourth beast of Daniel's vision 
practiced and prospered in Babylon till the full- 
ness of time when Cyrus conquered the Chal- 
dean Empire. Then followed a revolution which 
utterly destroyed the seat of the beast, till it 
became the haunt of every wild beast, a place 
for bats and a place of thick darkness forever. 
When Satan was driven out of the country, Je- 
rusalem was rebuilt and prospered until the be- 
ginning of the Christian dispensation. Satan 
took up his abode in Pergamos of Lydda, a 
province of Asia Minor. In this wicked city 
the people worshiped a living serpent. From 
this throne Satan exerted his influence on the 
people of the surrounding nations. He sent his 
evil angels to Rome, and thence by Priests and 
Kings to operate on and in and by the people. 
You are reminded of Herod in Palestine who 
butchered the infants, his wife Marianne, with 



I70 THE DOOR OPENED. 

her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, and 
his mother. His son Antipaterwas pnt to death 
for conspiring to poison him, B. C. 4. A. D. 
2 Herod died, having reigned thirty-seven years. 
Yon are also reminded that Herod Antipas 
caused John the Baptist to be beheaded. Herod 
Agrippa persecuted the Christians. After all the 
Apostles had suffered martyrdom but John, the 
beloved disciple, the same spirit entered into the 
authorities of Rome and destroyed Jerusalem 
A. D. 70. 

The Christians were given time to escape out 
of the city by the hand of the angel of God, but 
the awful slaughter that followed almost put 
an end to the rebellious Jews. The Jewish war 
began A. D. 66. The next year St. Peter and 
St. Paul were put to death. In 68 Nero was 
killed and in the year 70 Vespatian destroyed 
Jerusalem, Saturday, September 8th. In this war 
1,100,000 Jews perished by famine and the sword 
and many were sold into slavery. Twenty-five 
years later John writes to the seven churches 
which are in Asia. He has a vision of the seven 
spirits of God in the earth. Whatever History 
may say of the work of individuals or people or 
churches, the seven churches of Asia stand be- 
fore God and are made the ministers of the 
Christian dispensation to all the Ages of the 
world. 

" What thou seest write in a book and send 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 171 

it unto the seven churches — unto Ephesus and. 
unto Smyrna and unto Pergarnos and unt o Thy- 
atira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and 
unto Laodicea." " And I turned to see the voice 
that spake with me, and being turned I saw 
seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of 
the seven golden candlesticks one like unto the 
Son of Man. His voice was as the sound of 
many waters (people) and out of his mouth 
came a two edged sword and in his right hand 
seven stars, and he spake and said : ■ I am He 
that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive 
forever more.' " 

The kingdom of Heaven is thus reviewed 
as it existed near the end of the first century, 
under the opening of the first seal, when the 
great army of Christ rode on the white horse 
of virgin purity. The time had come when God 
had fulfilled his promise to Abraham, saying, 
" Thy children shall be as the sands upon the 
sea-shore;" and Christ was alive in the hearts of 
" a great multitude which no man could number," 
and they spake with the voice of many waters, 
saying, " Honor and glory and power be unto 
the Lamb which sitteth upon the Throne for- 
ever and ever." 

I shall not attempt to disclose the history of 
these churches, for it is not necessary to the 
purpose of this work, which is intended to show 
the more important conflicts between Satan and 



172 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Christ in the lives of men. The seven chnrches 
in Asia may, or may not have received the words 
of John's Revelation, bnt I think it very likely 
that they did. According to Milton, he wrote 
his Gospel in the year A. D. 97, while he appears 
to have written Revelation when he was an ex- 
ile in Patmos, A. D. 95 — Rev. i, 9. He is the 
most snblime of all the Evangelists and wrote 
in the spirit of prophecy. The exceedingly 
spiritual import of his Gospel bears as distinct 
marks of Inspiration as the language of Isaiah, 
where he delineates the life, character and influ- 
ence of the Lamb of God. The great school of 
Philo, in Egypt, the Philosophy of Greece and 
the Paganism of Rome were unable to compre- 
hend the unity of the Godhead. The combined 
Logic of eight centuries could not conceive of 
the word being made flesh. The first few verses 
of John's Gospel pulled the veil off the hu- 
manity of Jesus and revealed the second and the 
third persons of the adorable Trinity in distinct 
form of Divine Life. John's insight, under the 
impulse of Divinity, gave the world a knowl- 
edge of facts which the combined unsanctified 
Reason of Ages did not unfold. 

This grand source of divine authority 
sinks into insignificance when viewed in the 
Light of Revelation ; but when we look at the 
Age in which the example presents itself we re- 
member that there must be a great difference be- 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 73 

tween unsanctified Reason and the Light of 
the Nineteenth Century. 

Whenever man is able to distinguish be- 
tween mind and spirit, we may be able to affirm 
with truth that Reason is a source of Divine 
authority. At present we must content ourselves 
to approach God in thehumau trinity of Church, 
Reason and Revelation. If the Jews could ap- 
proach God through the Law and the Priest- 
hood, it becomes our duty, living as we do in 
the sunlight of divine knowledge, to approach 
God in the lively habilaments of the whole ar- 
mor of God. We shall then be able to know for 
ourselves what is in store for God's Elect. To 
my mind the condition which John ascribes to 
the seven churches of Asia is intended to repre- 
sent the spiritual condition of the church of 
Christ throughout the Christian dispensation. 
The figure seven is a sacred number which had 
its origin in the division of the week into days 
and represents completeness. The bonds of 
Time are committed to seven or some multiple 
of seven. The sacred use of the figure is to de- 
note the beginning and the end of periods of 
time. As God began the work of creation on 
the first day and rested on the seventh day, we 
have the institution of the Sabbath. The sev- 
enth year has been set apart in husbandry as a. 
year of rest for the land. Seven times seven 
years brought around the year of Jubilee to the 



174 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Jews. They believed that all time was divided 
into seven periods. The thousand years of 
Christ's reign on the Earth has been regarded 
by some as the seventh period of the division of 
Time, and that it would be the grand rest Sab- 
bath and Jubilee of the Ages. Hence the gen- 
eral idea of the Millenium. 

(Reader ! let me remind you that God fin- 
ished his work on the sixth day, also that there 
is no such thing in time as a Millenium, it be- 
longs in Eternity.) I have prefered to interpret 
Revelation in the light of the sacred number be- 
cause all the prophecies which have already been 
fulfilled as recorded by sacred, and profane His- 
tory as well, have divided time by the figure 
seven. I need offer no evidences to substantiate 
this fact to the enlightened mind of this Age. 
The seven churches then can have no reference 
to the Millenium, because the Christian dispen- 
sation will have ended when that happy state is 
ushered in by the purifying fire at the end of 
Time. There is recorded enough to satisfy us 
that the order in which the churches are named 
correspond with the seven divisions of Time. 
The Church of Ephesus is told that there will 
be those claiming to be Apostles which are not. 
This is evidence enough to convince us that the 
church of Ephesus represents the Apostolic 
Age under the opening of the first seal. It is 
not possible for us to tell when these periods of 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 75 

different spiritual conditions begin or end, but 
there are some indications of the different peri- 
ods of time. In the year 330, Constantine re- 
moved the seat of his government frcm Rome 
to Constantinople, and thus the Empire of Rome 
stood upon the two legs of Nebuchadnezer's great 
Image. The legs were both of Iron. The Chris- 
tian religion was the religion of the whole Em- 
pire, but Rome was given up to the Bishop of 
Rome who became the corrector of Heretics in 
the year 538 by the work of Justinian, the rul- 
ing Emperor of the Romans. Thus Rome be- 
came the seat of Papacy, which held dominion 
1,260 years to its overthrow in 1798, when the 
French army under Berthier abolished Papacy 
in Rome. 

The Jewish year contained only 360 days, 
five and one quarter days shorter than our year, 
which makes the time much shorter than we are 
liable to suppose in which Prophec} T is to be ful- 
filled. Our year is undoubtedly three years behind 
from the birth of Christ. The difference in the 
reckoning, according to our estimate, is twenty- 
five years which brings the fulfillment of Dan- 
iel's 1,260 years back to A. D. 1776, or to the Dec- 
laration of Independence of the U. S. A., the time 
when Papacy had its downfall begun, although 
the Beast was not wounded to the death till the 
longer number of years, counted by adding the 
five and one-quarter days to each Prophetic year 



176 THE DOOR OPENED. 

(that is, 365^ days instead of. 360.) This Na- 
tion (U. S. A.) is the last Nation of Prophecy 
npon whose free soil will be repeated the experi- 
ences of the Old World, till the chronometer of 
Time rnns down and all the Earth behold her 
glorions King. 

It seems strange that persecution has had 
snch a wonderful influence in purifying the lives 
of Christians. Under the opening of the first 
seal we have wondered at the beauty of holiness 
in the Christians of the first three centuries, but 
when we remember the martyrdom of hundreds, 
we are compelled to notice the opening of the 
second seal, only seven years from the first, by 
the sword of the cruel Nero. During his reign 
Peter and Paul were put to death. Pagan Rome 
tried to exterminate the Christians and they 
were compelled to hide themselves in the caves 
of the Earth to preserve their lives. The con- 
flagration of Rome in the tenth year of Nero's 
reign was a signal of his cruel nature to offer 
the slaughter of the Christians to satisfy the 
clamor of the enraged populace. Some were 
nailed to crosses, others were sown up in the 
skins of wild beasts and exposed to the fury of 
savage dogs , others again, after being smeared 
over with combustible materials were tied to 
poles and set up and used as torches to illumin- 
ate the darkness of the night. These inhuman 
spectacles took place in Nero's garden. 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 77 

The Romans didn't allow secret meetings of 
any kind, bnt persecution united the Chris- 
tians more closely to each other. Every one who 
could or would act as an informer, became a 
public benefactor, and every effort was used to 
find some imaginary charge to bring against 
them. At a time like this when every informer 
gained so much favor from the government, it 
was not difficult to convict on any kind of a 
charge. The Christians were given opportunity 
to burn incense to the gods of Rome, which they 
invariably refused to do, convicting themselves 
as being rebels against Rome. 

The immediate successors of Nero were very 
little better than himself. A great many Chris- 
tians were put in the mines and leading men 
were put to death in order to exterminate the 
sect ; but throughout the first three centuries 
of the Christian dispensation no torture could 
subdue and no temptation could seduce from 
virtue's narrow path, the followers of the Sa- 
vior. The red horse of the second seal has been 
an instrument in the hand of God by which he 
brings good out of evil, and I suppose the six- 
teenth century was a witness of more bloody 
scenes than those enacted in the second and 
third. I do not understand that the opening of 
one seal puts an end to what comes out of the one 
before it, nor that time of action or influence 

has anything to do with the seven divisions of 
12 



178 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the Christian dispensation, but rather that the 
seven seals contain the contents of the cup of 
human experience. The opening of the third 
seal under the figure of a black horse represents 
that long reign of darkness and despotism when 
the abomination that maketh desolate was set up 
in the dominion of Papacy from A. D. 538 to 
the Reformation of Luther. Through these ten 
centuries -ignorance, superstition and idolatry 
held universal sway over the minds of men. 
With the worship to saints in the sixth cen- 
tury and the worship of anything from a dead 
bone to a living beast upon a throne, no use- 
ful art or knowledge came to bless mankind 
w T ith its benefactions. The sublime Evangelist 
John has most accurately portrayed the Dark 
Ages through which the Nations of the earth 
has passed as a long night from sunlight to day- 
break again, the time for light, the time for 
knowledge coming when the fourth seal was 
opened under the symbol of a pale horse. The 
pale horse represents death (of the Papacy), fear 
of conflict, day dawn of Reformation. At this 
time there were very few who enjoyed the poAver 
and pride of intellectual manhood. 

The dangers and slaughter that preceeded 
the flight of the Christians to the shores of 
America will need more careful attention than I 
can give them here at this time to show that the 
pale horse represents the great fear felt at the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 79 

time of those persecutions in which the red 
sword of the second seal laid thousands on the 
shore of the confines of death. The opening of 
the fifth seal includes a period of Prophecy 
reaching from the time when it was determined 
to throw off the British yoke and be Free 
America to the overthrow of Roman Power in 
1799. Then follows forty-five hopeful, prayerful 
years to a state of blessedness when the knowl- 
edge (of God) was greatly increased — 1844. 
Eefore entering upon the scenes which issue 
out of the sixth seal we will go back and renew 
the several spiritual conditions of mankind 
which the different churches represent. The 
time of the opening of the seals does not mark 
the beginning nor the end of the different grades 
of spiritual purity and power. The second seal 
was opened for the purpose of distributing the 
disciples to the different cities of the Roman 
world. When Stephen was stoned to death the 
disciples left Jerusalem and virtually secreted 
themselves from their enemies, and the effect, 
was the preaching of the gospel to the people 
and nations and tongues. 

The Apostles themselves were hidebound to 
the extent that they believed in common with 
the Jews that the gift of God was to the Jews 
only, when the facts are that salvation is to the 
ends of the earth. Paul was an Apostle to the 
Gentiles, the first missionary sent out from the 



l8o THE DOOR OPENED. 

church at Antioch, but the fear of death was the 
cause of the effect which it produced. Again, 
in the opening of the fourth seal, the persecution 
which came to Luther and his followers in the 
Reformation had the effect of carrying the Gos- 
pel to America. When Columbus talked about 
the possibility of the ocean having a shore on the 
other side, the sages of the Old World laughed 
him to scorn, but in the course of time America 
became an Asylum for men where they might 
serve God according to the dictates of their own 
conscience. The persecutors would not follow 
them over the vast unknown sea, and there they 
were safe from the destroyer. 

If we remember that there was no communi- 
cation between the Eastern and Western Hem- 
ispheres we will know that there was perfect 
safety in flight. I have made this seal operative 
till the time when the people of America con- 
cluded to assert their independence which they 
did in 1776. 

The church could not have been any purer 
at the end of the first century than it was 
when Paul went to prison the last time. His 
Epistles to the different churches which he 
had organized indicate that a change was begin- 
ning to take place in them, because we see him 
reproving some of them. He says : " Oh foolish 
Galatians, who hath bewitched you," etc., Gal. 
iii. Divisions came in some of the churches — 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. l8l 

coldness, envy, strife, false teachers, animosities. 
When John was too old to stand np and speak 
long he would often say, " My little children 
love one another." After the death of John, 
about the close of the first century, the course of 
spiritual life was downward. The first church 
(of Revelation) could not have covered a period 
later than the death of Peter and Paul, A. D. 
68, and the second would not continue beyond 
the second century and the third would not reach 
beyond the conversion of Constantine. Here 
the Christian religion enters upon another plane 
of existence. Never before had it been the Na- 
tional religion. Constantine made Christian 
missionaries out of all his representatives and 
even the soldiers enlisted under the banner of 
the Cross. As the Angel of the Lord went be- 
fore Joshua into the victorious possession of the 
Promised Land of Canaan, so the cross of Christ 
went before the first Christian Emperor. The 
power of the Empire was due to the zeal of a 
blind faith that the cross was the source of vic- 
tory. Idolatry was cast aside to a great measure 
and the predominating influence of the Christian 
religion insured the personal safety of the Be- 
lievers of the fourth century. The wealth of 
the Empire was at the disposal of the church 
of Christ. It appears that Constantine did not 
embrace Christianity for his own personal bene- 
fit, for he was not baptized till shortly before 



1 82 THK DOOR OPENED. 

his death, but he had had a vision of a cross and 
on it was written, u by this ye shall conquer.'' 
So with this assurance he determined to gratify 
his ambition to rule the world ; he reformed the 
customs of the nations and gave his subjects the 
right to follow to a great extent their own relig- 
ious inclinations. I do not think that he had a 
clear view of the salvation of men, but he was 
led by the spirit to place Christianity in a posi- 
tion of great influence upon the nations of the 
Earth; although the people were free in this 
matter, liberty, however, invariably drifts into 
slavery as soon as we do away with the demands 
of obedience to Law. When Constantine di- 
vided the influence of the Empire by moving 
the seat of the government from Rome to Con- 
stantinople, very naturally the influence of 
Christianity was withdrawn from Rome and the 
western part of the Empire was left in the hands 
of the Bishop of Rome, and the power of Pagan- 
ism eventually asserted itself and became the re- 
ligion of the Empire. When the influence of the 
Constantion government died out with his de- 
scendants the tide turned to Romanism. Edu- 
cational institutions of different kinds became a 
thing of the past. Divine power was vested in 
personality, and Papacy was the result, in the 
year 538. Here ends the religious experiences of 
the first four religious conditions represented by 
the names Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos and 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 83 

Thyatira. Here opens the third seal, the black 
horse of the Dark Ages, and the condition which 
John describes as having " A name that thon 
livest and art dead. The fifth spiritual condi- 
tion of the church is called Sardis. In the be- 
ginning of the fifth century the churches had 
been torn down, the disciples were without gov- 
ernment having no anchor to hold them fast, 
and errors had crept in and the simple worship 
of the Apostolic age was almost unknown. The 
religious faith was one chaotic mass of confu- 
sion that yielded none of the fruits of the Gos- 
pel. The leading minds of the age occupied 
their time in discussion about the nature of 
Christ and his mother — whether Christ had two 
natures, two wills, two souls, etc., whether his 
birth was natural, whether he was born of a vir- 
gin or came to earth a full grown man at the 
time of the baptism in Jordan. These discus- 
sions engendered bitter animosities as quarreling 
over creeds invariably do. This spiritual war 
was given the visible form of actual slaughter 
and continued more than two hundred years. 
The work of extirpating the opposing factions 
was zealously prosecuted until the slain were 
counted by the millions. Justinian became the 
corrector of heretics after this slaughter had 
been going on for one hundred and twenty-five 
years and set the blood-hound of Papacy on 
every one who did not coincide with the edicts 



184 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of Rome. Conscience had no right to an exist- 
ence in the sixth and succeeding centuries and 
those who had different opinions were con- 
demned to death. 

It is strange that while a belief in Christ was 
so universal, his loving character and example 
were so utterly laid aside as unworthy of imita- 
tion ; instead of thirsting for righteousness they 
thirsted for human gore. If this Age had a 
name to live they had also a death to die, and 
the most of them had nothing to do with the 
disposition of their remains. Their name and 
their works had girdled the earth with a band of 
blood that will never be overlooked nor forgotten : 
" A name that thou livest and art dead." Hu- 
man language constructed by Divine power 
alone could portray such a condition to future 
generations ; a state of existence so void of hu- 
man sympathy and love — so full of hatred and 
cruelty is scarce deserving of a name when men 
become more savage than the beasts. The races 
of men had entered the shades of death and 
they were slaves who thought what they were 
told to think or else did not think at all. The 
baser passions yielded to the impulse of the 
hour, and souls concentered with the clay or 
made a league with hell to populate the confines 
of despair. 

The generations that follow those who in 
their turn are numbered with the dead, are 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 85 

sprung like thorns out of the parent stem to 
tear and scratch the forms and features of man- 
kind — the light of mind eclipsed and lofty 
thought unknown till shriveled brains enclose 
the senses of the soul and men were like the 
beast. The training-school is abandoned and 
the field of knowledge unexplored and all the 
world is dark. 

The world behind this Age 

Had caught the echoes of the tomb, 

And harmonized the vibrant air 

On strings of sweetest sound, 

And wafted on the softest breeze 

The melodies of Heaven. 

But now harsh thunders waked 

The terrors of the night, 

That played along the ground 

On livid strings of frightful fire 

To terrify the trembling Earth, 

Who, with her deep sepulchral wave, 

Must rock the cradle of the tomb, 

Or issue forth 'mid billowy flame, 

With cloud of incense guild the sky, 

To throw a light from Heaven to Earth 

And give mankind a view of God. 

" Be watchful and strengthen the things that 
remain that are ready to die." " Thou hast a few 
names even in Sardis which have not defiled their 
garments, and they shall walk with me in white." 
The chord of Divine Life reaches from the even- 
ing through the night to the dawning of the 
Reformation and the light of a new creation 
breaks upon the Christian dispensation and the 



1 86 THE DOOR OPENED. 

morning star has arisen in the person of Martin 
Lnther to beautify the morn of the day spring 
from on high. " And the fourth beast was like 
a flying eagle." The four beasts of Revelation, 
iv, 7, represent four spiritual powers, or condi- 
tions of spirit life existing in the time of the 
Christian dispensation. "And the first beast 
was like a lion and the second was like a Calf 
and the third beast had a Face as a Man and the 
fourth beast was like a flying Eagle." The first 
is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords. The Christian religion 
offers salvation to the world — liberty from sin. 
" Behold! I have set before you an open door 
and no man can shut it." Perfect liberty al- 
lows conscience to guide and admits of action 
of soul for the development of mind and the gen- 
eral education of mankind. The second beast 
represents the Paganism of the fourth and fifth 
centuries. The third beast represents Papacy 
and the fourth beast, the flying Eagle, is the 
emblem of liberty, which characterizes the spirit 
of the Reformation and flees to the shores of the 
New world. Thus eighteen centuries stand be- 
fore God. " And the beasts were full of eyes 
within." The Eyes, represent the light of Rev- 
elation through the working of these four pow- 
ers, giving wisdom and knowledge to future 
Ages, for knowledge must come from experi- 
ence. Line upon line and precept upon pre- 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 87 

cept has been given that men may draw a jnst 
conclnsion from the deep well of the past. One 
common feature of the four powers is that they 
all speak in tones that can not be silenced, and 
they all cry with one voice, saying, " Holy, holy, 
holy, Lord God Almighty." 

We infer from this common characteristic of 
the powers that cry with one voice that all the 
powers of Earth and Heaven and Hell combined 
give glory to our king. But all are not saved, 
for " not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that 
doeth the will of my Father which is in 
Heaven." " Many will say in that day, Lord, 
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and 
in thy name cast out Devils and in thy name 
done many wonderful works? And then will I 
profess unto them: I never knew you, depart 
from me ye that work iniquity." " Therefore, 
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and 
doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man 
which built his house upon a rock, and the rain 
descended and the floods came and the winds 
blew and beat upon that house and it fell not 
for it was founded upon a Rock." Such was the 
foundation upon which the Pilgrim Fathers laid 
the frame work of the Constitution of the 
United States. The American Eagle is the glory 
of kingdoms and all nations shall lay their 
trophies at her feet. 



1 88 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The British Lion and the American Eagle 
have one spirit, and will some day nnite their 
power and stand against the world. The United 
States is represented in another Scripture as a 
Lamb, and I call the coming years to witness the 
marriage of the Lion and the Lamb. " The 
Lion and the Lamb shall lie down together." 
The church of Philadelphia follows Sardis, in 
the order named by the sacred writer, and has an 
existence during the time of the opening of the 
sixth seal. It is a spiritual condition embraced 
in the definition of the name. It means love, 
joy, peace. We are now living in that time, and 
since the year 1844 there has been a decided 
change in religious worship ; instead of merci- 
less judgment and Hell-fire, the ministers have 
heen delivering messages of Love. Men are no 
longer taught to fear, but to love God. The 
burden of the message is, " Love one another." 
God is no longer regarded as demanding an im- 
possible, perfect obedience, but we have presented 
the promise of God, with a rainbow round about 
the throne, the emblem of peace. Christ comes 
to us as an elder brother, a faithful friend, a lov- 
ing companion, saying, " I will never leave nor 
forsake you." We are no longer strangers nor 
friends of God, but we are sons and daughters, 
joint heirs with Christ to the abundance of the 
treasure of God in his kingdom of love. Such 
is the sixth spiritual dispensation of the king- 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 89 

dom of Christ, but there will be a change, and 
evil men will wax worse and worse and many- 
will yield to the great temptations which have 
already come upon the world, and " the end shall 
not come unless there be a falling away," which 
is characteristic of the last days of man on the 
Earth in the annals of time. Peter says, 2 Epis- 
tle iii, 3 : " Knowing this first, that there shall 
come in the last days scoffers, walking after 
their own lusts, and saying, where is the prom- 
ise of His coming, for since the Fathers fell 
asleep all things continue as they were from 
the beginning of the creation?" " For this 
they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word 
of God the heavens were of old and the earth 
standing out of the water and in the water, 
whereby the world that then was, being over- 
flowed with water perished ; but the heavens and 
the Earth which are now, by the same word are 
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day 
of Judgment of ungodly men. But the day of 
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, 
in which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat. The earth also and the works (of 
man) that are therein shall be burned up. Never- 
theless, we, according to his promise, look for 
new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth 
righteousness." We are living in the last days. 
The ends of the earth are in the hands of the 



190 THK DOOR OPKNKD. 

four Angels (Beasts, Powers), holding the cor- 
ners. These four angels are the spirits of the 
four elements of mankind. The spiritual sheet 
is stretched and the spirits stand and wait while 
the angels of God seal his servants in their 
forehead (that is give them an intelligent con- 
ception of God.) This sealing began possibly 
in 1844 after the fulfillment of Daniel's 1,335 
years, which was made up of three divisions of 
time; viz., 1260, 30, and 45 years. There were 
sealed of the Jews 144,000, and beside them a 
great multitude which no man could number 
(Gentiles) of all nations and kindreds and peo- 
ples and tongues, and they stood before the 
Throne and the Lamb, clothed with white 
wrobes and palms in their hands. This was the 
condition of things when he had opened the 
seventh seal, and " there was silence in Heaven 
about the space of half an hour, and I saw the 
seven Angels (churches) which stood before 
God and to them were given seven Trumpets, 
and another angel came and stood at the Altar 
having a golden censer, and there was given 
him much incense that he should offer it with 
the prayers of all saints upon the golden Altar 
which was before the throne, and the smoke of 
the incense which came with the prayers of the 
saints ascended up before God out of the An- 
gel's hand, and the Angel took the censer and 
filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 191 

the earth, and there were voices and thnnderings 
and lightnings and an earthquake, and the seven 
Angels which had the seven Trumpets prepared 
themselves to sound, and when all of these have 
sounded the mystery of God will be finished 
and Time will be no more. The silence in Heaven 
for the space of thirty minutes, represents a 
space of time equal to one of our weeks or seven 
days. There is no night in Heaven. This time 
was occupied in offering up the prayers of saints 
which pass in review before God for the glory 
of his holy name, that he may be pleased to grant 
Salvation to all those who call upon him in Faith. 
This is the great offering once, for all, by our 
High Priest, who ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for us. The worship of angels stand aside 
and all the harps of Heaven are still while the 
incense of prayers goes up, a sweet-smelling 
savor unto God. 

The Trumpet sounding is the signal of war. 
At the sounding of the Trumpet the people were 
summoned at Sinia. The mountain of God 
quaked and fierce lightnings flashed. The moun- 
tains smoked and harsh thunders uttered their 
voices to teach mankind that God had come near 
them in Judgment. When Joshua compassed 
Jericho, sounding on the Trumpets seven days, 
once each day for six days, and seven times on 
the seventh day, when the Trumpets sounded 
long the walls of the city fell, and every man 



192 THE DOOR OPENED. 

went into the city over the place against which 
they stood and possessed the city. 

" The seven Trumpets in the hands of the 
angels of the seven churches, when they begin 
to sound, ye may know that Nation shall rise up 
against Nation and the slain of the earth will 
be many, and when the seventh angel soundeth 
and the cry of the saints goes up to Heaven, 
then shall all the earth behold their King. For 
behold ! he cometh, and all his holy angels with 
him, and they shall gather his elect from the four 
corners of the earth and his elect that are alive 
and remain shall be caught up to meet him in the 
air, for they shall all be changed in the twinkling 
of an eye, when the last Trumpet shall sound ; 
for this corruption must put on incorruption 
and this mortality must put on immortality; 
then will come to pass the saying: oh death, 
where is thy sting ; oh grave, where is thy vic- 
tory ? Thanks be unto God who giveth us the 
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are 
surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, held aloft 
to view the closing scenes of earth, for the ele- 
ments shall melt with fervent heat, "And all 
the proud, yea all that do wickedly shall be stub- 
ble," and the day cometh that shall burn them 
up. " For the heavens, which were of old, and 
the earth and all the works of man, are reserved 
unto fire against the day of Judgment of ungodly 



the kingdom established. 193 

The flying roll which Zechariah saw in a 
vision was the Law given to the children of Is- 
rael in Mt. Sinia, and the wicked were cut off 
from among men according to the things which 
were written in the Law. They bleached their 
bones in the desert sands for sin and unclean- 
ness. Again God judged the world according to 
the righteousness of Christ, that as many as be- 
lieved might stand in the favor of God through 
all Eternity. As many as died under the law 
were judged by the law, as many as lived with- 
out law were a law unto themselves, and were 
judged by their own law ; but when Christ came 
to judge the earth and the world, they were 
judged by the law of Grace. " For every one 
must give an account of the deeds of the flesh, 
whether they be good or whether they be evil." 
" Unto whom much is given of him will much 
be required." For the kingdom of Heaven is 
as a man going into a far country, who called 
his own servants and delivered unto them his 
goods, and unto one he gave five talents, to an- 
other two and to another one. Therefore, when 
the time comes Christ will descend with a shout, 
and the judgment of the wicked then living 
upon the Earth, will be brought down and they 
shall be cut off and all the works of man on the 
whole earth will be given to the flames. So will 
the end of time be to those who arc still in the 
flesh, and the wicked shall be turned into hell 
13 



194 TH £ DOOR OPKNKD. 

with all the nations that forget God. Then Sa- 
tan will be bonnd for a thonsand }'ears. Satan 
had long ago been cast ont of Heaven nnto the 
Earth, and ever afterward went abont like a roar- 
ing lion seeking whom he might devonr. Bnt 
now that the end is come and the cleansing of 
this earthly sanctnary is complete, there is noth- 
ing left for him to do but to reflect upon the 
ruin he has wrought. It seems to me that the 
angels, coming to take Lot out of Sodom before 
it was destroyed by fire, is a good picture of 
Christ coming to take the Elect out of this life 
on the Earth in the day of Judgment of ungodly 
men. The enemy of God and man, when he left 
the Savior in the days of his temptation, must 
have looked forward to his final overthrow in 
the earthly kingdom of Christ with great wrath. 
We have noticed what havoc he made with the 
church at Jerusalem, and what slaughter he in- 
flicted upon the Christians of the first few cen- 
turies until he seemed to have almost conquered 
the world, for, following this for 1,260 years, in 
which his wrath knew no bounds, it is estimated 
that 50,000,000 of people lost their lives in the 
ravages of war and persecution which Satan 
demanded for his own satisfaction. He is not 
satisfied for men to live and spend their days 
in peace, for his first stroke on the human fam- 
ily in Eden caused the death of all men. All 
these are his own ; in the spirit of the dead he 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 95 

could hope for nothing more, but in the spirit 
of the living, the spirit of those he had yet to 
conquer, whose life he could not control, he 
sought to establish his kingdom, and what they 
were called to undergo, who would not yield to 
his Satanic majesty, has filled the world of hu- 
man kind with painful toil and tortuous grief. 
The very afflictions good men have had to en- 
dure, and their untimely death are the strongest 
proofs that their lives were hid with Christ in 
God. Throughout the twelve centuries of the 
night of Papacy, The Two Witnesses prophe- 
sied, clothed in sackcloth. These two witnesses 
are the Word and the Spirit. The golden chord 
of divine life between the Apostolic Age and the 
Reformation of Luther, yielded perpetual dis- 
cord between God and men on account of sin ; 
when the spirit revived again the red river of 
blood that ran over the earth which gave the 
saints the victory. It is not necessary for me to 
write the history of these dreadful calamities 
which Satan has been permitted to inflict upon 
the human family, nor to complain against God 
for not putting an end to them, because we do not 
deserve any better treatment, even at the hand 
of God, for w T e have all rebelled against him and 
are all together unworthy of the least of his 
benefits, with which he daily loadeth us ; there- 
fore, do we consider his great mercy toward us, 
and wonder at His infinite love for the children 



I96 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of men. Although we see many things to come, 
which apparently are already past, we are per- 
suaded that in the Last Days of time many things 
of History will be repeated, so that parts of 
Scripture which have been fulfilled in the years 
gone by, as the shadow of things to come, we 
are led to believe the same experiences will ac- 
company the human family in the Last Days. 
Although the world was destroyed by a Flood 
because of the sins of the people of old, Christ 
said to his disciples when he spoke of the des- 
truction of Jerusalem (which occurred A. D. 70), 
"The blood of all my prophets will I require of 
this generation." No calamity ever befell man- 
kind like this one, in which 1,100,000 people 
perished by the sword and famine and pestilence 
and fire, as if to pour out in one great sacrifice 
the blood of all the earth. 

The work of Christ and the work of Satan 
have been traced through the Christian dispen- 
sation down to the year 1844. No one can be 
accurate in giving dates for times that certain 
things take place, but it is generally conceded 
that the opening of the seventh seal took place 
in the time of the End. The time of the End 
is a time just prior to the End under the opening 
of the seventh seal and may be a long time dur- 
ing which the Seven Trumpets sound. 

" The first angel sounded and there followed 
hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were 
cast upon the Earth and the third part of trees 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 97 

were burned up and all green grass was burned 
up." As before stated, the Trumpet is the sig- 
nal of war. This figure of hail and fire min- 
gled with blood, indicates that this battle will 
be fought or has been (at this date as the case 
may be) by soldiers on foot, with rifles and gun- 
powder and bullets, and that the attacking army 
will come from the North. The time of year 
the figure describes is summer. The green 
grass burned up indicates a time of drouth 
throughout the whole country in which the 
battle takes place. One third of the trees burned 
up would indicate that they were used in con- 
nection with the war and were burned ; that is, 
for camp fires, fortresses, bridges, etc., and that 
they were all burned, as contributing to the vic- 
tory by one of both armies. War forms a part 
of the experience of nations. The Trumpet 
sounding calls to arms. The seven Trumpets 
may sound in quick succession or there may be 
a long time between them. I hope I may make 
it plain that the seven Trumpets will sound in 
the Last Days or after the year 1844. 

"The second angel sounded, and, as it were, 
a great mountain burning with fire was cast into 
the sea, and the third part of the sea became 
blood and the third part of the creatures which 
were in the sea and had life died and the third 
part of the ships were destroyed." This figure 
describes a Naval attack against a country long 



I98 THE DOOR OPENKD. 

and high, standing in the sea (like Italy) and a 
large city in flames wonld make it appear like a 
mountain of fire. The burning of ships would 
complete the scene the figure describes, and the 
soldiers of the ships would die either by fire or 
drowning. The blood signifies loss of life. 
" The third angel sounded and there fell a great 
star from heaven and the name of the star is 
Wormwood, and the third part of the waters be- 
came bitter." The waters are people ; after this 
war had proceeded through two battles, one- 
third of the people of the whole country would 
be aroused and many people would be killed. 
When any of the Governments of the old world 
get into trouble, the whole continent seems to 
rise to arms to protect its own interests. These 
eruptions will be continued at intervals in the 
future till the fullness of time, and then there 
will be war such as never was before, and it will 
continue to the end of Time. 

THE SCENE CHANGES TO AMERICA. 

"And the fourth angel sounded and the third 
part of the sun was smitten and the third part 
of the stars, so as the third part of them was 
darkened and the day shone not for the third 
part of it and the night likewise." Rev. viii, 12. 
The sun is used by the Evangelist to represent a 
Christian Government The moon represents 
that which is behind it or that which precedes 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 1 99 

it, and has no light of itself. The stars repre- 
sent the different parts of ihe Government or 
States. The light of the snn and stars are na- 
tive to them, but the moon light has no Ulster. 
This figure is evidently used to represent the 
United States of America. The sun light rep- 
resents the Christian principles of the Constitu- 
tion. The stars represent our public instruc- 
tions and laws. Through all these the light of 
the sun of Righteousness shines, and we are a 
Christian Nation by the decision of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The moon repre- 
sents Papacy, out of which our forefathers came, 
to form a Government in which they might serve 
God according to the dictates of their own con- 
sciences. The blighting influences of foreign 
customs will darken the day of our national ex- 
istence. " That it shine not for a third part of 
it and the night likewise." Therefore, we under- 
stand that the first third of our day will be 
light, the second third of it shine not — dark, 
and the last third of it moonlight. 

We are the last nation that comes up on the 
Earth of which mention is made in Prophecy. 
" Surely he will do nothing except it be revealed 
to his servants, the Prophets." The first third 
of our history finds us a Christian Nation. The 
second third part will be a time of conflict to 
maintain our National character, our Christian 
principles and our personal liberties, our insti- 



200 THE DOOR OPENED. 

tutions and our homes. The last third part of 
our day will not be a government of the people, 
by the people, for the people, but a government of 
the people by the Pope through his image in 
the United States of America. With our his- 
tory, past and future, the Christian dispensation 
closes and the last darkness will be forever ob- 
literated in the day dawn of. the Eternal splen- 
dor of a never ending day. " And I beheld an- 
other beast coming up out of the earth, and he 
had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a 
dragon." This is our complete history in a very 
few words : The lamb is the same as the sun 
used in the other figure, pure, young, innocent 
(sacrifice.) The horns represent two spiritual 
powers operating in the one Government of 
equal power. Then there comes a time when he 
(the lamb) speaks as a dragon. This is the voice 
of Papacy. This power will make our laws 
and administer the government over our heads. 
" And he exerciseth all the power of the first 
beast before him (the Pope) and causeth the 
earth, and them which dwell therein, to worship 
the first beast whose deadly wound was healed, 
saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they 
should make an Image to the beast which had 
the wound by the sword and did live." This 
wounding refers to the overthrow of the Papal 
government of Rome, A. D. 1797. " And he 
had power to give life unto the Image of the 






THE kingdom established. 201 

beast that the Image of the beast should 
both speak (as a dragon) and cause that as 
many as would not worship the Image of the 
beast should be killed, and he causeth all, both 
small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, 
to receive a mark in their right hand, or in 
their foreheads, and that no man might buy or 
sell, save he that had the mark of the beast, 
or the number of his name, for it is the num- 
ber of a man, and his number is 666." The 
representative of the Pope of Rome in this 
country will be that Image, but he will not 
have power to kill those who refuse to wor- 
ship him until this government is administered 
by the church. The time will come when all 
the subjects of Rome will have a mark, and 
the American Popes will be numbered, but by 
what system, I can not say. American martyrs 
will be counted by the thousands when those 
perilous times come upon us. There will be a 
division of the human family all over the world 
before the scene closes ; all true Christians will 
be on one side and all the ungodly on the other. 
Then Christ will come to conquer Satan and de- 
stroy the wicked and all the works of man upon 
the face of the whole earth. 

Rev. 9th — " And the fifth angel sounded, and 
I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, 
and to him was given the key of the bottomless 
pit and he opened the bottomless pit." Jesus 



202 THE DOOR OPENED. 

said to his disciples : "I beheld Satan as a star 
fall from Heaven." 

The bottomless pit is the interior of the 
Earth, which is a lake of fire. The depths of 
hell is the liquid fire. Hell is the interior of 
the Earth. It is in this sense that the word 
is used in the Bible, meaning the region of the 
dead or the grave. David says prophetically, 
concerning Jesns Christ and his Resurrection, 
" Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell, neither 
wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption." 
In Rev. xx, 13, 14, we read, " And the sea gave 
up the dead which were in it, and death and 
Hell delivered up the dead which were in them 
and they were judged, every man according to 
their works, and death and Hell were cast 
(thrown) into the lake of fire; this is the second 
death r 

The spirits of the lost are confined in the 
regions of the dead to witness their own cor- 
ruption, until the general Resurrection. The 
bodies of the Just remain in the region of the 
dead until the time of the first Resurrection, 
which will occur simultaneously with the second 
coming of Christ. The spirits of the Just go 
directly to Heaven at their death and live in 
the presence of Christ. This state, viz., the hab- 
itation of the soul, between the time of its de- 
parture from earth and the Resurrection of the 
Just, is called Paradise. 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 203 

The angel that came down from Heaven 
(Satan) " opened the bottomless pit, and there 
came ont on the earth smoke, that darkens 
the air." Fallen angels, or spirits of Devils, 
come ont of the bottomless pit. These spirits 
are the spirits of the wicked dead that come ont 
of the pit at the command of Satan, under the 
leadership of the angels of Satan, which were 
cast out of Heaven ; they enter the minds of 
men in the flesh, on the Earth, and nse those 
minds and bodies to carry on the works of Sa- 
tan in the world. " And there came out of the 
smoke Locusts upon the earth, and unto them 
was given power as the scorpions of the Earth 
have power." Their work is to torment the 
wicked for (five months) 150 years. This is not 
an army arrayed in battle for they are com- 
manded not to kill, but to torment men. They 
are not to hurt the grass or any green thing, 
neither any tree, but only those men which have 
not the seal of God in their forehead. This lan- 
guage describes a combination of evil influences 
which is called the first woe. There are yet be- 
side this, two woes more to befall mankind. The 
plagues of the past have been terrible, the wars 
of nations have been desolating and disastrous, 
both to life and property, but the woes of 
the Latter Days will be more calamitous 
and dreadful, because they strike at the 
soul and cast it into the depths of Hell; the 



204 THE DOOR OPENED. 

world's curse, more dreadful than any agency of 
the past, is INTEMPERANCE. 

" Look not upon the wine when it is red, 
when it giveth its color to the cup, for at last 
it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an 
Adder." The Scorpions, of Rev. 9th, have a 
king over them, which is the angel of the bot- 
tomless pit. The color of the Scorpion is all the 
shades from yellow to red according to their age. 
They sting with their tails (at last), but the sting 
is not fatal, unless repeated many times ; it pro- 
duces great pain and inflammation. It has a vic- 
ious nature and long, many jointed claws, by 
which it fastens itself to any object. It can roll 
itself up so as to hide its sting. When rolled up 
it has the appearance of a red stone, shaped like 
an Qgg. If it is touched, it can sting you before 
3^ou know it ; its nature is to kill its own kind 
and they will eat their own young ; the young 
ones will kill the parent, and when the creature 
is subjected to adverse circumstances, it will 
sting itself to death. The character of the Scor- 
pion certainly furnishes us an accurate descrip- 
tion of the effects of intoxicants upon the peo- 
ple of the world. The Scorpion does not fly, 
but its character is given to Locusts which fly 
like a vast cloud over the face of the whole 
earth. 

The overspreading of intemperance is 
brought about by the commerce of nations and 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 205 

by the intercourse of the people. The Locusts 
may sweep down and destroy the crops in one 
district, then rise up and fly to another section 
or country. Foreign emigrants are the Scorpi- 
ons that fly like Locusts from Europe to Amer- 
ica to devour our country and our prospects of 
future good. They have brought intemperance, 
the saloon, the wine-house and all their associ- 
ations with them to cover us up in one vast wave 
of iniquity, overflowing and devastating our fair 
land. " They are like horses prepared for bat- 
tle," resisting our laws, poluting society and 
trampling underfoot our public institutions, our 
liberty and our homes. They are like scorpions 
hiding under every stone and in every crevice ; 
go where we w T ill we see them undermining the 
foundations of our institutions and entering our 
governmental structure through every opening. 

Woe to American Government. 

Woe to American Society. 

Woe to American Liberty. 

u They have a king over them which is the 
angel of the bottomless pit." With them and 
in them and by them have come upon us the 
World's Curse— INTEMPERANCE. 

" And they have on their heads a crown of 
Gold." This crown is the money the govern- 
ment receives from the revenue levied upon in- 
toxicating liquors. The cost of the annual con- 
sumption of intoxicants in the United States is 



200 THE DOOR OPENED. 

seven hundred millions ($700,000,000) dollars. 
Against these vast millions the United States 
spends for clergyman's salaries twelve million 
dollars, and for public education ninety-six mil- 
lion dollars; yet in the face of this enormous 
expenditure of money, England consumes nearly 
three times the amount of intoxicants that the 
United States does. It is estimated that for 
each missionary sent to Africa, there is sevent}^- 
five thousand gallons of liquor sent to that 
•country. These statistics are taken from Bible 
Readings for the Home Circle. The awful sweep 
of this destructive flame consumes, till it may 
be said to man, " Hell from beneath is moved 
for thee, to meet thee at thy coming." " No 
drunkard shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven." 
" Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink" 
Rev. ix, 13 — The Eastern Question. " And 
the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice 
from the four horns of the golden Altar, which 
is before God, saying to the sixth angel which 
had the Trumpet, " Loose the four angels which 
are bound in the great river Euphrates." I 
have placed the time of the sounding of the 
seven Trumpets in the time of the End, which 
I suppose to have begun, A. D. 1844, under the 
opening of the seventh seal ; therefore, I con- 
clude that the time in which the fulfillment of 
this prophecy must take place began with that 
year. The prophetic period of this event, al- 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 207 

lowing for the difference between the prophetic 
year and onr year of 5 % days will bring the ful- 
fillment of this Prophecy to the year 2231. The 
four angels which are bound in the great river 

o o 

Euphrates represent the spiritual powers which 
actuate the people who inhabit the country trav- 
ersed by those four rivers, which are bound in 
one stream 120 miles above the entrance into the 
Persian Gulf. 

The Turkish Empire is one of the oldest 
governments in the world and has been myster- 
iously preserved to come to its end, amid the 
most deadly conflict the world has ever wit- 
nessed. The war which this prophecy describes 
will have its beginning in an uprising of the 
Turkish Empire, very likely against Russia, who 
wants an outlet to the West and South, via the 
Black Sea and Bosphorus to the Mediterranean. 
Constantinople, on the west bank of the strait, 
is the capitol, and any attempt on the part of 
Russia to pass this boundary line, would open 
the conflict and might fulfill the prophecy re- 
lated in connection with the sounding of the 
second Trumpet, "A great mountain, burning, 
was cast into the sea;" an experience which the 
same city had, A. D. 1453, when the Ottoman 
Sultan conquered the eastern part of the Ro- 
man Empire, and burned one-third of the ships 
of the Greek and Roman fleets. Mahomet, the 
founder of the religion of the Turks and Per- 



208 THE DOOR OPENED. 

sians, took up his residence in Constantinople. 
The Mahomedans of the East at the present 
time number 173,000,000, which constitutes a 
power requiring the combined strength of the 
Eastern world to overcome ; yet " they will 
come to their end." The horses with heads like 
Lions, used in this prophecy, are the key to the 
mystery. The Horse and the Lion are both na- 
tive to Arabia ; this locates the spirit of the con- 
flict. The horsemen engaged in this great army 
on both sides will number 200,000,000, which 
are used in cavalry and artillery both. There 
is no mention of infantry in the description. 
The slain of this great war will be the one-third 
of men, by which I understand that one-third 
of the population of the Old' World will lose 
their life. The Eastern Question is one of the 
living issues of the day, and must, inevitably, — 

Mingle with the destinies of Empires, 

The blood of the slain, 

In a land whose waters flow 

With the warm, red current of millions, 

Who drank the last, and bitter cup of woe, 

To slake the thirst, insatiate fury held aloft, 

To crown the victor's brow. 

Through hours and days and months and years, 

The dying groans of men will rise, 

Amid the din of tramping feet, 

Or hushed beneath the roar of musketry, 

Or canon-rolling thunder, 

In the cold embrace of death, lie still, 

And mingle with the dust, while, 

Onward rush the ranks of war 

To victory or death. 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 209 

This name of war will burn its way, gather- 
ing fuel through the years, till it, blazing in a 
sea of flame, consumes the Empires of the East. 
This is the Second Woe. 

" The seventh angel sounded — " 

In speaking of things to come, men very 
naturally express their thoughts by the use 
of words indicative of the future. Time is 
either past, present or future, the three com- 
prising all time ; but prophetic language stands 
in an enduring present, speaking of things to 
come as if already past, as in the above quo- 
tation. 

The Trumpet sounding is the declaration of 
that which follows immediately ; it is the Divine 
Decree unuttered. The Trumpet of God has 
no sound that the human ear responds to, but 
when we remember that we are but dust, we 
will not wonder that our sense of hearing does 
not respond to the vibrations of the atmosphere 
which surrounds the Spirit Land. The dispen- 
sations of the seventh seal are given out or come 
to pass in their order at the sounding of the 
Trumpets; however, one thing may require a 
hundred years for its accomplishment, while an- 
another may only require ten, and yet the ten 
come after the beginning of the hundred period, 
or after its close ; thus when the ten follows the 
hundred at its beginning, it comes after it, and 
yet in that, that the hundred continue after the 



2IO THE DOOR OPENED. 

ten, the hundred comes after the ten, at least 
the greater part of it ; but what the result is of 
this combination of agencies, we can not tell, 
that is we can not tell what the result may be 
at any given point, in its unwritten history, but 
we are assured of what the result will be in the 
end. With seven Trumpets sounding under 
the opening of the seventh seal, we have a com- 
bination of circumstances which may be illus- 
trated by the painters' art of mixing colors. In 
following the course of the Christian dispensa- 
tion down through the ages, it may be as well 
to put in the spiritual colors as we go along. 
You remember the white horse, the red, the 
black, and the pale or dun colored beast of 
Prophecy. Thus we begin mixing: with one 
hundred parts of white we add five parts of car- 
mine, ten parts of black, and when we have cut 
the colors we will have a pale, sickly gray ; then 
fifty parts of black and we have a color that is 
very like the color of putrefying flesh. If we 
continue adding different colors we must expect 
a color that it may be hard to describe. Thus 
it is difficult to describe the changes brought 
about by the mixture of spiritual agencies in 
the last cup of the Christian dispensation. 
Under these circumstances I proceed to describe 
what is yet to come in the last days of men on 
earth. 

Under the sounding of the last Trumpet 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 211 

Angel, we have "seven angels coming out of 
the Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony in 
Heaven." The testimony of human knowledge 
and experience is that God is just and holy, 
that his Law is holy and just and that human 
experience acknowledges a just condemnation, 
for God, having washed his hands in the blood 
of sacrifice, has done all things possible to 
alleviate a suffering humanity, and to turn the 
tide of the law of cause and effect, by turning the 
waters of Life against the tide of iniquity till 
earth and heaven and hell unite their voice in 
one cry, saying: "Thou art holy, Lord God 
Almighty, which am, and was, and ever shall 
be, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all 
that in them is; just and perfect are thy ways, 
thou king of Saints." Therefore, oh man, thou 
art inexcusable, and thy condemnation is the 
work of thy own hands, in that ye will not hear 
and repent that ye might have life. 

"And the first angel (that came out of the 
temple) poured out his vial of wrath upon the 
earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous 
sore upon the men which had the mark of the 
Beast, and upon them which worshiped his 
Image." This is the Image which was made to 
the Beast which had the wound by the sword, 
and did live. This is the Image which com- 
manded men to worship the Beast, and that put 
a mark upon the men who worship the Beast, 



THE DOOR OPENED. 



and that causeth those who will not, to be killed. 
The plague which comes upon men when the 
first angel pours out his vial of wrath upon the 
earth, will come only upon those men who have 
the mark of the Beast and worship his Image. 
This plague will come upon men everywhere 
who have the mark, but more especially upon 
those who worship his image on the Western 
Continent. It will be a noisome and grievous 
sore, probably a species of Lepra, effecting the 
joints especially, cracking and bleeding, and very 
offensive. This plague evidently will be either 
Black Leprosy or Black Smallpox, either of 
which would not remove the Mark of the Beast 
while the unfortunate individual remained alive. 
This will be a judgment sent from God, there- 
fore it will not be contagious ; hence I conclude 
that it will be Leprosy, which in time will des- 
troy the body. 

" And the second angel poured out his vial 
upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a 
dead man, and every living soul died in the sea." 
The object of this plague in the first place is to 
take away from men one great blessing — the fish 
of the sea. It may be that we do not realize the 
fact that we are very ungrateful creatures, not 
deeming it necessary to remember that when 
God made man, that he also provided for all 
his needs. The cattle on a thousand hills, and 
all the fish that swim the sea, with every fowl 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 213 

that flieth in the air, were given nnto men for 
meat ; and they brought forth abundantly, that 
none should lack or be compelled to buy. All 
over the broad earth, in the sea and bays and 
streams, they may be taken in a net until there be 
no more want. If we were acquainted with the 
habits of the finny tribes we might watch them 
as they move like a vast army through the 
waters of the deep ; an inexhaustible supply in 
the great store-house of God. 

Rev. Herbert W. Morris, in "Science and 
the Bible," says: "Water is pre-eminently the 
seat of life. No part of the surface of the earth 
is more fully peopled or inhabited by greater 
numbers and diversities of beautiful or strange 
or monstrous forms than the waters, whether 
those of the sea, the fresh lakes, the sparkling 
streams, or the stagnant pools ; in every climate 
from the Northern to the Southern Pole, water 
abounds with its living tenants, and from the 
floor of the ocean, where its depth exceeds the 
heighth of our loftiest mountains, up to its 
ruffled surface, every successive stratum of its 
waters is crowded with its own order of life. 
There is not a sound or a bay, not a stream or a 
lake, in which God has not stored a great abund- 
ance of the creatures of the deep. The Whale, 
Dolphin and Porpoise are the most remarkable 
and stupendous creatures of creation, forming a 
connecting link between the animals of the land 



214 THE DOOR OPENED. 

and the fish of the sea. While their whole in- 
ternal economy closely resembles that of the 
beast, they, like fish, live wholly in the ocean. 
The Sperm Whale often attains the great length 
of sixty or seventy feet, while the common 
Whale has been fonnd over a hundred feet long 
and of a weight of two hundred and fifty 
tons; when confined in the shallows it will 
sometimes leap out of the water and come down 
with a force that churns it into foam ; in the 
deep seas, when alarmed or wounded, it has been 
known to assume a perpendicular position, with 
its head downward and rearing aloft its tremen- 
dous tail, lash the waters with great violence, 
then with one spring descend to a depth of four or 
five thousand feet. The Tempest in the hour 
of its wildest uproar is its pastime ; it plays with 
the storm-vexed ocean, ascends the crested sum- 
mit of its mountain waves, then "like a cradled 
creature," lies amid their deep and dismal fur- 
rows, as if sporting with their rage." 

The fish of the sea are of several thousand 
different species ; from the white Shark, weigh- 
ing ten thousand pounds, to the little minnow. 
From the shape of fish we have learned the art 
of ship building, because here we recognize the 
Divine hand designing their shape so as to meet 
with the least possible resistance while passing 
through the waters. Their numbers are incal- 
culable, more numerous than the sands along 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 215 

the shore. If we endeavor to form a conception 
of their bulk, we must compare their shoals to 
great rivers running through the coarse of their 
migrations. Kirby says, " their shoals are many 
leagues in w T idth, many fathoms in depth, and 
so dense that the fish touch each other ; and this 
stream continues to move at a rapid rate past 
any particular point nearly all summer." If 
this be true of one species, what must be the 
enormous bulk of all those species which have 
the same habits of life? The Mackerel, Her- 
ring, Salmon and Codfish are a few that are 
taken as a drop out of the river from this great 
store-house. The Oyster, Lobster, etc., also 
yield us a large suppty of delicious nutriment 
without any other cost than the taking. The 
Pearl Oyster of the Persian Gulf is a vast store 
of wealth, utility and beauty. When we con- 
template the wonders of the sea, by which God 
has so wonderfully provided for our wants, our 
sustenance and our tastes, are we not led to be- 
lieve that we are altogether ungrateful crea- 
tures ? 

The words of the Prophet are that "every 
living soul died in the sea." Very naturally the 
fish which were in the habit of going out into 
the rivers w T ould do so, but even if this were 
done it would not defeat the purpose of God to 
take this great blessing away from man. Per- 
haps you may imagine that we can get along 



2l6 THE DOOR OPENED. 

without fish ; admit it, and yet think of the 
thousands engaged in the fisheries whose occu- 
pation would be gone ; neither is that the end 
of the matter, the stench which would follow 
the death of the creatures of the sea would make 
it impossible to navigate the ocean. The com- 
merce between the Eastern and Western Conti- 
nents will be cut off. The millions who go 
down in ships and do business on the great 
waters will be held back from the seashore by 
the hand of the Infinite Ruler of all things. 
There is no mention of ships after this in the 
Scriptures, neither is there any indication that 
the waters will afterward be changed. The pro- 
cess of evaporation might purify them and carry 
them out over the continents to descend in 
showers upon the dry and thirsty land, to flow 
down the streams from hill and mountain, and 
thence return, till all become pure again, but it 
would take months and years perhaps for nature 
to deliver herself from this great corruption. 
What pestilence and death would be carried to 
the cities of the plain, on the chariots of the 
air, we can not tell ; neither will we be able to 
stay the destroying breath, nor refuse to inhale 
the fumes of death. It will not be an unkind 
act in God to cut off life in the sea in this man- 
ner, for all things have their time to live, as well 
a time to die, and be returned to "mix for- 
ever with the elements," from whence they came. 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 21 7 

But man, oh, man, thou spark of immortality, 
in thy last hours, what sighs or groans, what 
cries or prayers attend thy cortege to the grave, 
as dust to dust returns, or if on wings of faith 
thy soul ascends celestial to the skies, what 
songs triumphant greet the waiting throng, or 
harp of Heaven to soothe thy sens'tive ear, 
when winged flight its weary pinions fold to 
rest, within the sight of those we love. These 
scenes await the weary soul which longs to meet 
its God, and yet we fear and tremble at the 
thought of crossing o'er the deep and dark do- 
main of death. 

When ocean waves at last stand still, a bloody 
curdled sea of death that chills around the globe 
will no doubt teach us how to pray "Thy will, 
not mine, be done." Tis not enough that these 
should die, but coming fast, another angel turns 
the waters of the land to blood, and every fount 
and stream and river runs its gory journey 
through. 

" And the angel of the waters said, Thou art 
righteous, oh Lord, because thou hast judged 
thus, for they have shed the blood of Saints and 
Prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to 
drink, for they are worthy." 

This plague is just like the one which Moses 
brought upon the Egyptians when Pharoah re- 
fused to let Israel go. They dug wells by the 
river to get water to drink. The Egyptians 



2l8 THE DOOR OPENED. 



worshiped the Nile, and it was necessary for 
God to show His power over their gods, in order 
to convince them and make them fear the God of 
Heaven, and repent, believe and serve Him. We 
have the same thing repeated, no donbt, for the 
same purpose, and no donbt many people will tnrn 
to God and cry for mercy in this time of awful 
torment. The drunkards of the earth, it may 
be, will find something else to drink, but they 
will come to their end ; their last cup will not 
suffice to slake their thirst in the regions of the 
grave. The plagues in Egypt lasted seven days. 
The great and terrible judgments which are 
recorded in history have come because of great 
iniquity and rebellion against God. Tyre and 
Sidon became the very seat of Satan, and the 
time came when God sent fire from heaven and 
destroyed them. 

We will not be at the end of Time yet when 
this plague falls upon the waters, for it is only 
one of the means by which God will call men to 
repentance. He is long suffering, kind and 
merciful, and wills not that any should perish, 
but that all might come unto Him and live. 
When the waters of the rivers become pure 
again, men will have learned that He who made 
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them 
is, demands obedience from the things which 
He has made, who in turn acknowledge the sov- 
ereignty of Law. He setteth the bounds of the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 219 

sea, saying: " Thus far shalt thou go, and no 
farther." To the waters His law commands, 
unite your diminutive spheres and form the seas, 
and to the round drops of the waves, roll down, 
roll down to the depths of the valley beneath, 
pursue thy way and flow on, no rest for thy 
sphere till thy crystaline beauty distills in the 
sky or sleeps in the bed of the rose ; a world 
of beauty, round and shining as the sunlight, 
or borne aloft on frigid airs, fall down in octe- 
hedral stars; ten thousand crystal shapes re- 
vealed, with threads of glass, thy law, to hold 
thy form of crystal praise, whose eyes, with con- 
trite tears, run down thy cold and icy cheeks, 
while lips may part and heart may break, thy 
soul disolve, as incense to the Throne, celestial 
wing thy way to reach thy home on high, where 
every form of life must own and praise the uni- 
versal God. Thus all the law of nature holds 
communion with her Maker, and dares not go 
beyond their sphere in conflict with creation, for 
all things else, but man, remains as they were 
made at first, to praise and magnify the Lord. 
"And the fourth angel poured out his vial 
upon the sun, and power was given unto him to 
scorch men with fire, and men were scorched 
with great heat and blasphemed the name of 
God, which had power over these plagues, and 
they repented not to give him glory." The 
plagues of turning the sea, the rivers and the 



220 THE DOOR OPENED. 



fountains of water into blood, will be far-reaching 
in their consequences. Although we recognize 
the Divine hand at work for the accomplishment 
of His righteous will, we are persuaded to be- 
lieve that the laws of nature will distribute the 
curse so as to alleviate the suffering of mankind 
according to the law of cause and effect ; thus 
while God w T ill be the author of the curse, its 
effects will be left to the laws of nature. The 
curse which the first angel poured out, fell only 
on those individuals who worship the Beast. 
While all men must suffer alike, perhaps, under 
the second and third curses, yet it is possible, 
and also very probable, that the children of God 
will be preserved from the ravages of the pesti- 
lence which accompanies the general condition 
of the atmosphere; because we remember that 
when the plagues fell upon the land of Egypt, 
and in the dwellings of the people, from the 
king on the throne to the slave in the prison, 
not a family of all the Egyptians escaped the 
ravages of the plagues. Yet from the first to the 
last, through all these, not a soul, nor a beast, 
nor a field of the children of Israel suffered on 
account of anything which came upon the 
Egyptians ; therefore, it is not improbable that 
the Divine Guide of wind and wave will say to 
his own: " Thou shalt not be afraid of the ter- 
ror by night, nor for the arrow that nieth by 
day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in dark- 






THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 22 1 

ness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at 
noon-day ; a thousand shall fall at thy side, and 
ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not 
come nigh thee, only with thine eye shalt thou 
behold and see the reward of the wicked, because 
thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, 
even the Most High, thy habitation. There 
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague 
come nigh thy dwelling, for He shall give His 
angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways." But when the rain falls not, nor the 
cool breezes fan the earth, and the noon-day sun 
burns with intense heat, it seems that it will be 
impossible for any agency, either human or 
Divine, to stay the stings of death. "Then will 
men hide themselves in the dens and in the 
rocks of the mountains, and say to the moun- 
tains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the 
face of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day 
of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to 
stand?" 

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial 
upon the seat of the Beast, and his kingdom was 
full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues 
for pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven, 
because of their pains and sores, and repented 
not for their deeds." The seat of the Beast is 
the City of Rome, and we have no intimation 
that it will ever be moved. It was taken from 



222 THE DOOR OPENED. 

Babylon to Rome, when Darins made his decree 
and wrote nnto all people, nations and languages 
that dwell in all the earth, saying: "That in 
every dominion of my kingdom men tremble 
and fear before the God of Daniel ; for He is 
the living God, and steadfast forever, and His 
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and 
His dominion shall be even unto the End" At 
this time there was no place for Satan on the 
throne of the Empire, whose king declared by a 
decree to all his people, acknowledging the su- 
premacy of God and destroying all the idols 
which the people used in the worship of the god 
of this world. The Roman Empire developed 
in the meantime, and soon became the ruler of 
the world. In Rome a form of worship was de- 
veloped in which " that man of sin was revealed, 
the son of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth 
himself above all that is called God, or that is 
worshiped as God, sitteth in the Temple of God, 
showing himself that he is God." "Now the 
spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, 
some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed 
to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils, 
speaking lies in hypocricy ; having their con- 
sciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to 
marry, and commanding to abstain from meat, 
which God hath created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which believe and know 
the Truth." This kingdom is the same as the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 223 

one upon which the grievious sore fell: "And 
his kingdom was full of darkness." 

We have two symbols in the Scriptures ex- 
pressing opposition : Light, Intelligence, Right- 
eousness — Darkness, Ignorance, Sin. These 
things go hand in hand. 

In the Dark Ages the corruptions of man- 
kind darkened their understandings, clouded 
their perception ; the darkness became thick to 
make a hiding place for sin. This sin rises, 
like a vast cloud between earth and heaven, be- 
tween God and man. The knowledge of God 
which is cut off from those who do not read the 
Scriptures for themselves will leave them in 
that darkness whose end is death. "And they 
blasphemed the God of Heaven." What greater 
blasphemy could men utter before God and the 
world u than to profess to be able to forgive sins 
or deliver a soul from Hell ; and yet we are liv- 
ing to-day in the sight of a power that professes 
to do this very thing. The last blasphemy is 
greater than the first, because if such a thing 
were possible, it were not profitable for Christ 
to die, and yet when we remember the' deceitful 
nature of Satan and sin, if it were possible to 
deceive the very Elect, he would rejoice in his 
mighty power and roll himself in a blaze of 
glory. But if God spared not the angel that 
sinned, but cast them down to Hell, of how 
much sorer punishment will they be deemed 



224 TH 3 DOOR OPENED, 

worthy who lead men into sin, teaching lies 
in hypocricy, having their consciences seared 
with a hot iron. Raging waves of iniqnity 
foaming ont of their own shame bnt under the 
tongues which blaspheme God, a canker will 
come 'till they gnaw their tongue because of 
pain. 

After the communication between the old 
world and the new has been cut off by the sec- 
ond and third curses, the western continent will 
have nearly run its course. It is safe to say 
that the people will have altogether abandoned 
the worship of the true God and come down to 
the end more like devils than human beings 
and perhaps may end themselves by their own 
slaughter, and the last man die of a deadly 
wound ; but in the old world the end will come 
amid more savage war. 

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial 
upon the great river Euphrates and the waters 
were dried up that the way of the kings of the 
East might be prepared." 

The Mohamedans in possession of Constan- 
tinople, from Etheopia, Arabia, Turkey, Afghan- 
istan and Persia by this time are conquered and 
come to their end, so far as the Turkish Empire 
is concerned. The Russians and Poles, "The 
king of the North," have pushed at him. The 
way for British India is prepared and the Brah- 
mans of South Asia and China are aroused to 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 225 

war, "The king of the South," hosts from 
Africa, from southern Europe, and from western 
Europe, all aroused. Wars and rumors of war, 
nation rising up against nation in a series of 
conflicts, marching, marching, clothed in armor, 
horse and rider, gatling gun and metrelleus, 
canon and sabre, roll and clash and thunder to 
the busy tramp of war. 

Muffled drums may beat 
To the tramp of weary feet. 

What mighty onslaught forges on to meet 
the foes' enfolding fire and smoke, where guns 
may hurl the hail of death, for the evil spirits 
have come out of the mouth of the Dragon 
going forth to the kings of the earth to gather 
them together to the battle of that great day of 
God Almighty. And he gathered them together 
to a place called Armageddon. 

" BEHOLD! I come as a thief." 

" Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his 
garments, lest he walk naked and they see his 
shame." 

" And the seventh angel poured out his vial 
into the air, and there were voices and thunders 
and lightnings and a great earthquake such as 
was not since men were upon the earth, and the 
great city was divided into three parts, and the 
cities of the nations fell, and their fell upon 
men a great hail out of heaven, every stone 
about the weight of a Talent." (114 lbs. Troy.) 
15 



226 THE DOOR OPENED. 

This Plague will destroy men in great num- 
bers who blaspheme God, and the great city of 
Babylon (Rome) came in remembrance before 
God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the 
fierceness of his wrath, and I heard a voice from 
heaven, saying : Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye 
receive not of her Plagues for her sins have 
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered 
her iniquties. Reward her even as she rewarded 
you and double unto her double according to- her 
works ; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to 
her double; how much she hath glorified her- 
self and lived deliciously, so much torment and 
sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit 
no widow, I sit a queen and am no widow, and 
shall see no sorrow; she decketh herself with 
gold and precious stones and pearls ; and I saw 
her drunken with the blood of the saints and 
with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; there- 
fore her plagues shall come upon her in one day, 
death and mourning and famine, and she shall be 
utterly burned with fire. For behold, the 
day is at hand that shall burn as an oven, and 
all the proud, yea all that do wickedly, shall be 
burned up. 

" And I saw an angel standing in the sun, 
and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the 
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come, 
gather yourselves together to the supper of the 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 227 

Great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, 
and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty 
men, and the flesh of horses and of them that 
sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free 
and bond, both small and great." When, Lo ! 
through all the earth the cry resound, 'tis done! 

Awake ye righteous of the tomb, 

Arise to meet the Lord, 

Celestial in the air, 

For every eye shall see him 

When his Glory shines around. 

The arching dome of heaven's etherial blue, 

From north to south, from east to west, 

Is failed with angel forms of love 

On wings that ride above the tempest's track, 

They circle round in ever varying flight 

Our Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. 

The angel bands the earth survey, 

Through every age of time, 

On every shore, in every clime 

They cry, arise and shine 

Ye ransomed of the Lord — and they cry as the mighty 

chorus breaks, /* 

"Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 

This is the First Resurrection, and all the 
Saints of all ages are caught up to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb. The brightness of His 
coming fills the earth, the air, the sky, for the 
Bride hath made herself ready, and the redeemed 
of all Ages join their voices to praise His holy 
name. No language of earth can describe this 
scene, for the children of God that are alive at 
the coining of Christ will ascend to meet Him 
in the air. The sea and the grave will give up 



228 THE DOOR OPENED. 

the righteous of all ages ; they too will be caught 
up to meet the Lord. This feast of coming to- 
gether is described as the marriage of Christ to 
his Church TRIUMPHANT, and they will 
form a united and happy family, through all 
Eternity. 

The brightness of His coming will destroy 
all the wicked of the earth. 

The figurative language of the great supper 
indicates that the birds may fly above the oven 
that burns up the works of man. Then Christ 
creates a new Heaven and a new Earth ; that is 
he speaks the word, and it is done, and Christ and 
his translated Saints, and his resurrected Saints, 
come down and in the holy city take up their 
abode, where they remain for a thousand years. 
The brightness of His coining in great glory 
and power drives Satan and his angels into the 
bottomless pit where they are kept obedient to 
command of the King of kings. Satan can do 
nothing except by permission of God. Christ 
promised his disciples that he would return to 
the earth and remain with all his people for- 
ever. Now that He is here, the New Jerusalem 
cometh down out of Heaven from God, and they 
enter in and dwell there. Christ's entry into 
Jerusalem, near 18 centuries ago, was a shaddow 
of this glorious, triumphant entry with his 
Saints, which is to come. 

John says of the city which was revealed to 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 229 

him: "Her light was as a stone most precious, 
even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal, and 
had a wall great and high, with twelve gates and 
names written thereon, which are the names of 
the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel. 
The names of the gates are, viz : 

Reuben, Simon, Levi, 

Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, 

Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, 

Naphitali, Gad, Asher. 
On the East three gates, on the South three 
gates, on the West three gates, and on the North 
three gates. The city will be a perfect square, 
and, the walls of the city had twelve founda- 
tions, and in them the names of the twelve 
Apostles of the Lamb. The wall of the city 
was of Jasper, clear as crystal, and the founda- 
tions of the wall were garnished with all manner 
of precious stones. The first foundation was 
Jasper, the second Sapphire, the third a Chal- 
cedony, the fourth an Emerald, the fifth a Sar- 
donyx, the sixth Sardius, the seventh Chryso- 
lite, the eighth Beryl, the ninth a Topaz, the 
tenth Chrysoprasus, the eleventh a Jacinth, and 
the twelfth an Amethyst ; and the twelve gates 
were twelve Pearls, and every several gate was 
of one Pearl, and the street of the city was pure 
Gold, as it were transparent glass." 

This New Jerusalem is the Temple of God 
and the Lamb on the New Earth which Christ 



23O THE DOOR OPENED. 

will have just created. This Temple in which 
the great congregation of Heaven shall gather 
together, the redeemed of all Ages, was meas- 
ured, in the vision of John, as twelve thousand 
furlongs according to the measure of the angel. 
If this measure represents the Roman Stadium, 
which is one-eighth of a mile, the city would 
contain fifteen hundred cubic miles of area, for 
the length and the breadth and the heighth of 
it are equal (if the cubic measure does not apply 
to our city areas, we must remember that spirits 
are not stuck to the clay.) And the city had no 
need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine 
in it, for the Glory of God did lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. 

And the nations of them which are saved 
shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of 
the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. 
The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, 
for there shall be no night there, and there shall 
in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, 
neither whatsoever worketh abomination or 
maketh a lie ; but they which are written in 
the Lamb's Book of Life. A pure river of 
water, Life, clear as crystal, proceedeth out of 
the Throne of God and of the Lamb ; in the 
midst of the street of it, on either side of the 
river, was there a Tree of Life, which bare 
twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit 
every month, and the leaves of the Tree were 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 23 1 

for the healing of the nations ; and there shall 
be no more curse, but the Throne of God and 
the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall 
serve Him, and they shall reign for ever and 
ever. These sayings are faithful and true, and 
the Lord God of the Holy Prophets sent his 
angel to show unto his servants the things 
which must shortly be done. 

"Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of 
this book, for the day is at hand, I, Jesus, have 
sent my angel to testify unto you these things 
in the Churches." 

These things are wonderful to contemplate, 
and yet they are sure to come, and we are ex- 
pected to study the words of the prophecy until 
we understand what is before us. It is foolish 
for us to sit down in unbelief and ignorance of 
the experiences through which we must pass, 
when by the exercise of faith and prayer the Holy 
Spirit will lead us into all Truth which has 
been revealed by the Prophets, and the wise 
shall understand. These things were not shown 
to the Patriarchs, nor to the Jewish Prophets, 
but. to us, by the loving Apostle John, who 
entered into the secret chamber of the Most 
High, that he might show unto us who stand in 
the Latter Days the glory of kingdoms. The 
High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies. 
The head over all things to bring us into the 
glory of His presence by an everlasting coven- 



232 THE DOOR OPENED. 

ant of universal brotherhood, to the inheritance 
of the Saints made perfect through the price of 
the purchased possession, even to the land shad- 
dowing with wings in the Temple of the Living 
God, which shall open her pearly gates to the 
ransomed of the Ages. 

Behold ! they come, the conquerors of death 
arise on wings of immortality, from every glen, 
from every hill, they rise triumphant o'er the 
grave, from sea and land they come in throngs 
innumerable, in forms of perfect beauty, hands 
uplifted, gazing up to Heaven, their spirits see, 
enclosed in living light, resplendant spirits out 
of Heaven coming to enter in the resurrected 
forms they once came out in death to live with 
God till He should come to be glorified in the 
Saints. From North, from South they come, 
they come from West and East, from Heaven 
and Earth, in one, united in the marriage of the 
Lamb. The gates ajar swing open wide, for be- 
hold, He cometh to Jerusalem, sitting on a cloud 
of light, " sweeping through the gates of the 
New Jerusalem. On every side, through every 
gate ; tribes of Israel throng the gates ; on the 
East three gates by the Garden of Gethsemane, 
on the North three gates by Mt. Calvary, on the 
South three gates by the Valley of Humility, 
and on the West three gates in the glow of the 
setting sun. Hosts innumerable, sands of the sea, 
great multitudes, clouds of witnesses, the con- 



THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED. 233 

gregation of the righteous, the assembly of the 
First Born, singing, marching, harp and psaltry, 
palm leaves waving, crowns of victory, attending 
angels, doxologies ringing from the 144,000 voices 
singing hallelujahs, echo and re-echo from Earth 
to Heaven, from Heaven to Earth, resounding 
praises, coronations ringing, Christ enthroned. 

Shecina of glory, incense of praise, clouds of 
witnesses, the Arc of the Covenant and Cheru- 
bim covering the Mercy Seat. Out of the 
throne of His Light the fountain of love, the 
river of life flows refreshing. On either side of 
the Throne are the two Olive trees, the Word 
and the Spirit, and they are fed with the Manna 
of Heaven and drink of the water of Life. 
"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 
more, for God himself shall feed them and lead 
them to the fountains of living water." 

The dedication of the Temple is finished — 
the home of the Saints. The price has been 
paid and the burden rolled away, and God shall 
keep those whom Christ has redeemed, and they 
are blessed and happy and holy now and forever. 
So have they been given an abundant entrance 
into the home of the soul, the glorified kingdom 
of Christ, according to Christ's first promise. 

" The meek shall inherit the earth." Since 
the home of the soul in its final rest will be up- 
on the earth, we are constrained to ask: "How 
can these things be?" The changes through 



234 THK DOOR OPENED. 

which we have passed have awakened in our 
minds an eagerness to learn more about many 
things which are suggested by these changing 
scenes than it has been possible for us to con- 
ceive from their imperfect description, which of 
necessity must be imperfect when they are not 
the central idea intended to be elucidated; 
therefore, we will endeavor to present these 
things in their order, if possible, more distinctly. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 

This question suggests three things or con- 
ditions through which we are destined to pass. 
We have three natures, viz : Physical, Intel- 
lectual and Spiritual, which form a human 
trinity; two of which are essential to the life of 
the body, and two of which are essential to the 
life of the soul. Thus the body becomes only 
a vehicle or receptacle of the spirit. The lunatic 
lives while the soul remains in the body, although 
the mind is entirely gone out of reasonable ex- 
istence. The intellect gives the soul a reason- 
able existence with all the power of a spiritual 
Being, existing under spiritual conditions, and 
is able to exercise all the functions of Being in 
a spiritual life, just as the living body can exer- 
cise the functions of life in the sphere of human 
activity. 

By the sin of our first parents, sin came upon 
all men to condemnation, to the corruption of 
the flesh, which in the natural life destroys the 
body and puts an end to its existence, being no 
longer of any profit to the soul ; the time come 
that the spirit leaves its tenement of clay. This 
parting is called Death. 
235 



236 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The functions of the body have been under 
the dominion of sin, operating not only to its 
own destruction, but to the destruction of the 
soul also. In this life we are exposed to two 
opposing spiritual influences, and our bodies are 
used to carry out the actions of life at the direc- 
tion of these two Powers. Thus we are given 
examples in society of every grade of spiritual 
rectitude or of spiritual corruption ; these actions 
are a part of the individual life, and take differ- 
ent forms in different individuals. These outward 
forms of action give to the functions of the 
body a distinct character, because they are the 
mirror of the soul that forms an image, by 
which we are enabled to distinguish one from 
another. The images that our mind views 
through the intellectual vision, forms the man. 
The body of a man is of no consequence in the 
world except as it is used as an instrument in 
carrying out the desires of the soul. The image 
reflected is the image of the soul which will ap- 
pear different at different times, as it is in- 
fluenced differently by the varied power of these 
two controlling spiritual agencies. 

We are born into the world innocent in the 
sight of the Law of God, not having exercised 
the intellectual judgment of choosing between 
the good and the evil ; but our bodies have come 
under the power of death on account of our first 
parents. Yet if we live to years of accounta- 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 237 

bility, we are held amenable to the law of right- 
eousness, which, if we choose to follow, the 
sacred influences of the Holy Spirit will direct 
our course in the development of the soul, to 
the deliverance of the soul from death ; or if we 
yield to the influence of the evil spirit, we will 
have our course directed away from God into 
the regions of death. But if we should become 
persuaded that the present corruption or the 
future ignominy is not desirable, we may avail 
ourselves of the provisions of Redemption which 
Christ has purchased by the atonement which 
He hath made for sin by freely offering Himself 
an infinite sacrifice for the sin of as many, as 
choose, by Faith unto Salvation. So it is as we 
approach the limit of our years, that we are 
either given to the kingdom of Christ, or the 
kingdom of Satan, who will control our lives 
throughout all the years of our eternal existence. 
We come down to the narrow house, the com- 
mon lot of all mankind, and our bodies return 
to the elements of the earth, but the spirit goes 
to its Maker. 

I here call your attention to the fact that 
the soul has been being made through all the 
years between the birth and the death. Adam 
did not become a living soul until God breathed 
into his nostrils the breath of life, and here I 
am constrained to say that if the soul departs 
from its tenement of clay before the mind 



238 THE DOOR OPENED. 

(which, is the judge) arrives to the years of ac- 
countability, a stage of intelligence which en- 
ables the child to make a choice or determine 
whether the good or evil is desirable, that soul 
will go to God ; but the soul that departs this 
life after that age, will go to the Spiritual Father 
which controlled that life while in the body. 
The soul that has been developed by the power 
of the Holy Spirit will go into the presence of 
God to await the redemption of the body, but 
the soul that has been led by Satan will go into 
the habitation of the damned to await the death 
of the resurrected spiritual bod}^, in the great 
day of Judgment. This is the second death. 
The wicked soul remains in the dominion of 
Satan in the region of the dead. The kingdom 
of Satan extends from the center of the earth 
to its circumference. Satan and his angels go 
about the earth, entering into natural existences 
at will, and also enter into the minds of men. 
The earthly is used in the Scricptures to repre- 
sent the Satanic elements, and the spiritual to 
represent the Heavenly Powers. The god of 
this world was ejected from the presence of God 
because of his pride and his ambition to be 
greater than the Son of God. 

Relatively speaking of heavenly things, 
these twain were the Cherubim covering the 
Ark of Testimony, the one on the right hand 
and the other on the left, on the Throne in 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 239 

Heaven. These two anointed Cherubs covered 
the Mercy Seat. When they came to the earth 
their names were changed. Michael is called 
Christ, and Lucifer is called Satan. 

In Ezekiel, xxviii,-i3-i4-i5, we find written 
of Satan: "Thou hast been in Eden, the gar- 
den of God ; every precious stone was thy cov- 
ering: the Sardius, Topaz and the Diamond, 
the Beryl, the Onyx and the Jasper, the Sap- 
phire, the Emerald and the Carbuncle and Gold ; 
the workmanship of thy Tabrets and of thy 
Pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou 
wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub 
that covereth, and I have set thee so ; thou wast 
upon the Holy Mountain of God; thou hast 
walked up and down in the midst of the stones 
of fire ; thou wast perfect in thy ways from the 
day that thou wast created, till iniquity was 
found in thee ; by the multitude of thy mer- 
chandise, they have filled the midst of thee with 
violence, and thou hast sinned ; therefore I will 
cast thee as profane out of the Mountain of 
God, and I will destry thee, oh covering Cherub, 
from the midst of the stones of fire." 

From this description of the origin, charac- 
ter and history of Satan it becomes plain 
that his kingdom belongs to the earth, and 
that his riches and honor and glory are laid up 
in the everlasting hills. The earth has been 
his covering; the garments of his praise have 



240 THE DOOR OPENED. 

been hid in the depths of the earth. The en- 
ticements of this world have always glittered 
with Satanic glory ; the precious stones that sit 
enthroned in golden bands npon the hands, or 
sparkling, dangle from the ear, have claimed the 
love, the admiration and the praise of souls who 
seek and pray and toil to gain the mammon of 
unrighteousness. 

When Israel sinned in Horeb's mount, and 
gathered round the golden calf, they did no 
more than worship that, their won ten eyesight 
longed to see in form of fire inanimate. These 
stones of fire have ever led the minds of men to 
sin in seeking gain of gold. If to love, to laud, 
to seek, to want, make up the sum of earthly 
praise and glory, surely Satan has enough to 
claim the empire all his own. No wonder then 
that God should give him every glittering gem 
for a garment of praise, and in his eternal habi- 
tation a covering of fire. 

As we pursue the course of the spiritual be- 
tween death and the resurrection, we are com- 
pelled to follow the course of the natural world 
to describe the course the spirit takes in the 
spiritual world ; therefore, as the soul is given 
a choice between the good and the evil, in the 
springtime of its existence perhaps, the com- 
pany of mankind take up their spiritual develop- 
ment by two roads that lead in opposite direc- 
tions. The development of the soul, which 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 24 1 

began in the valley of decision, goes on in the 
same direction in its eternal existence nntil it 
arrives at the final perfection of its kind, and as 
the idea of perfection is developed, that which 
seemed to be the heigh th of excellence is also 
developed into an infinitude of more infinite 
perfection; however, the relation existing be- 
tween the spirit and its Maker in this life, of 
necessity places the Creator above the works of 
his hand. So in the eternal life that same re- 
lation of superiority will be maintained ; thus, 
while progressing development continues to un- 
fold the mysteries of intellectual profundities in 
the spiritual eternity of the life of the soul, the 
the same endless development of intellectual 
power and excellence which is natural to the 
spirit, becomes the supernatural attribute of the 
spiritual Father; therefore the relation between 
the parent and the offspring are the same — yes- 
terday, to-day and forever. This difference be- 
tween them gives to the superior the unchange- 
able attribute of the character by which we are 
led to understand the character of their dispo- 
sition toward us. 

The things that God has in store for his 
children are not more excellent in their nature 
of producing happiness, than the things which 
Satan has in store for his children in producing 
misery; thus, while the soul that is born of the 
spirit of God develops toward the perfect image 
16 



242 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of the intellectual spiritual excellence of Jeho- 
vah, the unsanctified spirit of the damned de- 
velops toward the image of the satanic, the 
hellish, the infernal. 

But as the region of the dead envelops the 
body of the natural man in the corruption of 
decay, with what body do they come to the 
Resurrection? The body of Christ, in which 
he was crucified, was the same body with which he 
came back to his natural life,, for Thomas would 
not believe that Christ arose from the tomb un- 
til he thrust his hand in the wounded side 
wherein he was pierced, or saw the print of the 
nails in his hands. The only son of the widow 
of Nain was restored to his natural life in order 
that he might continue to be the support of his 
mother. And likewise Lazarus, when he had 
been dead four days, was restored to life for the 
comfort and support of his sisters, Mary and 
Martha. But while these all prove conclusively 
to us that the body will be raised to an eternal 
existence by the power of God, whose power is 
sufficient to give life, form and activity to the 
dust of the earth, they do not teach us that the 
soul and body will be united in an eternal mar- 
riage and have one form, except under the con- 
ditions laid down in the law of the tomb of 
Christ. If we have been baptized into His death, 
we shall be raised by Him in the Resurrection 
of the Just ; but if we are not partakers of His 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 243 

Salvation, we shall be raised by Him in the 
Resurrection of Condemnation; so that, if in 
this life, we have been made partakers of eternal 
life with Christ, we shall be raised in glory. 

This earthly tenement of clay, which is cor- 
ruptible, in death is given to corruption ; so, as 
it was sown a natural body, it will be raised a 
spiritual body ; and as the natural body, which 
was made in the image of the Creator, by sin 
became corrupt and was given to decay, so the 
natural body crucified together with Christ by 
the power of the regeneration by the Holy 
Ghost, having endured the thorns of Satan in 
the flesh, is given to decay, in the purifying of 
the flesh unto the sanctification of the spiritual 
body in the perfection of the image of Christ, 
our Lord and Redeemer, in the day when He 
comes to be glorified in his Saints at the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb. When He cometh 
with clouds, in his great power and glory, the 
bodies of the Just will be united in an ever- 
lasting bond of union with the soul of the body 
to which it belongs. That is to say, that the 
spiritual body of those who have lived godly in 
the earth will be raised out of the regions of 
the dead to meet its own spirit coming with 
Christ out of Heaven, and the body being caught 
up, will meet the spirit with Christ in the air. 
The spirit of Abraham will enter the glorified 
body of Abraham, the spirit of David enter the 



244 THE DOOR OPENED. 

glorified body of David; each spirit entering 
into its own body, and then altogether, the alto- 
gether perfected humanity made divine in glory 
will come down to earth and join the march 
triumphal of Christ, entering the New Jerusa- 
lem, the heavenly temple of God on earth; the 
house which hath foundations whose maker and 
builder is God. 

We very naturally inquire, what is the body 
like in which we enter the gates of praise? The 
parable of the sower will explain this for us. 
The grains of wheat are sown, some falling 
among thorns, some in stony places, and some 
in good ground ; the grains that fall into good 
ground spring up (a type of the Resurrection) 
and bear fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty 
fold, and some thirty fold of the same grain as 
that which was sown in the field. 

We can not tell the difference between the 
different grains in a handfull of wheat, except 
that some are larger than others. Each grain is 
perfect after its kind. The Lord made man in 
the image of God, a perfect man before he fell, 
subsisting upon the word of God and the things 
that support the natural man. As by the first, 
Adam, all must die, so by the second, which is a 
quickening spirit, we shall come in the likeness 
of Him who hath begotten us again from the 
dead. Like as the first, bore the image of the 
earthly, so we shall bear the image of the 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 245 

Heavenly. It will not make any difference if 
we shall have been maimed or halt or blind, or 
otherwise deformed, in this life, we will come in 
the Resurrection with a body which has all the 
perfections of the human body, except so far as 
our bodies are the creation of our own corrup- 
tion, which have developed to satisfy the needs 
of our sinful nature. We will also have all the 
developments of the spiritual, which will be 
necessitated by the conditions of the spiritual 
economy. 

"He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 
As we know each other in society on earth, 
so will we know each other in the spirit world. 
If we were not to walk the golden street, I 
would say that we should have no feet nor limbs ; 
if w^e were not to clap our hands for joy, I would 
say that we should have no hands nor arms. If 
we sing praises, if we love, if we eat the spiritual 
meat which Elijah went in for forty days, from 
the desert of sin to the city of Damascus, what 
shall we say then ; but that as the natural, so is 
the spiritual, only that it is glorified, some a 
hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. 
If we have any power of emotion, energy or in- 
telligence, they shall increase, some thirty, some 
sixty and some a hundred fold, and they that 
turn many to righteousness shall shine as the 
stars, for ever and ever. When Elisha came 
over Jordan from the translation of Elijah, his 



246 THE DOOR OPENED. 

face shone as a mirror ; Avhen Moses came down 
out of Sinia at the end of forty days from the 
presence of God, his face shone as the face of an 
angel. But if they shine with light on such oc- 
casions, with what glory must they shine when 
they come in their own bodies at the Resurrec- 
tion of the Just? 

With the ungodly it is not so. The resur- 
rection of the unsaved does not take place until 
one thousand years after the resurrection of the 
justified. The reason for this will be given in a 
chapter by itself, in an account of "The Work 
of a Thousand Years," covering the great day of 
Judgment. 

The Resurrection, like death, is the common 
lot of all men. It is an experience that comes 
to the body only, but to the bodies of all men 
alike. But the bodies of all men are not alike 
in their resurrection. When the wicked are 
raised, their bodies come with the same perfec- 
tions as the first man, Adam; their spirits come 
out of Perdition together with Satan, their king, 
and the fallen angels come with them, very like 
the manner described as at the coming of Christ 
with all his holy angels, except that they enter 
their bodies in the regions of the dead, while 
the bodies of the Elect are caught up to meet 
the Lord in the air. These lost spirits in prison 
go into their own bodies and come up out of the 
earth and out of the sea from the four quarters 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 247 

of the earth, wherever their natural bodies had 
returned to the elements. The infernal hier- 
archy circling round wherever man is found to 
gather them together to battle. The children 
of Satan are delighted with their new bodies, 
because they are so much better than the old 
ones. These bodies are not like the bodies of 
of the Elect, but actual human bodies, made 
perfect after the pattern of the first man, Adam, 
having all the functions of the human anatomy 
just the same as any good specimen of physical 
manhood which we see in the world to-day. 
But what will they look like when they come? 
If you will go with me in your mind's eye 
and stand on the mount of the Celestial City 
and look at them through the glorified vision of 
the celestial eye, you will see their dark, swarthy 
features, the most terrific and savage, the most 
unholy visage, even more so than human eye- 
sight has ever been compelled to witness; de- 
pravity complete, which to behold, you never 
could forget. Pope says: 

"Vice is a monster of so frightful a mein, 
That to be hated, needs but to be seen." 

These wicked men who once practiced sin 
and gloried in their own shame on the earth, 
have come to life again, with souls intensified 
with intellectual power in devising mischief, 
inventing sin and engendering the savage im- 
pulses of their diabolical natures. 



248 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The earth that was once the scene of pros- 
perity and industry, commercial wealth, and the 
home of the good, the noble and the true, had 
been devastated by war and famine, and flood 
and fire, to appease the wrath of their angry 
god who stirreth them up to war. But now 
these works of the wicked are a thing of the 
past. " For the former things have passed away, 
and all things have become new." 

When Satan and his angels have stirred up 
the satanic impulses of men in their second life 
upon earth, until they become a raging wave of 
foam like on a maddened sea, he gathers them 
together and devises a plan to lay siege against 
the Holy City. His army are a host innumer- 
able as the sands upon the sea-shore. Satan's 
rage knew no bounds, he having been committed 
to the bottomless pit during a thousand years in 
which there was not left one man upon the earth 
for him to lead away from God. He fancied 
that he had conquered the world in bringing 
death upon all men ; now he realizes that Christ 
had conquered death by being obedient unto death 
himself, in that he afterward arose and with the 
power of the Resurrection brought mortality to 
life, for death was swallowed up in victory and 
Christ was King of kings. Satan knew that 
his time on earth was short, and yet desired 
to try once more to grasp the crown by over- 
coming Christ and destroying the beloved city. 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 249 

The battle once begun in Heaven, was raging 
still in the bosoms of the brave; he felt the 
power of his great foe, and yet he thought to 
lay a plan by which it seemed not impossible he 
might become the conqueror. This gained, his 
dominion in the earth would be a better place than 
that from which he just came out. But if he 
was to be the god of this new world, he must 
set up his kingdom now and be prepared for war. 
When the children of Satan found them- 
selves living as men upon earth again, they 
wondered if it were not the purpose of God to 
place them on probation again, to see if He 
could not persuade them to believe and follow 
the Saviour, and thereby gain eternal life with 
Him in the Celestial City. They remember 
how that they had closed their ears against the 
prayers and entreaties of friends, and would not 
hear the word of God or believe the teacher who 
said that after death there was to be a Judg- 
ment in which the wicked would be condemned 
and banished from the presence of God. They 
had been taught to believe that God is merciful 
and good, and that Christ died for sinners, and 
therefore the ungodly would fare as well as those 
who did so much praying. Then they thought 
that if death came to all men, that because 
Christ arose from the dead, certainly all men 
would live again, and at least be as happy as 
they were while they were living. They knew 



250 THE DOOR OPENED. 

that the Christians were taught not to lie nor 
swear nor steal, but they thought that every 
man had a right to do what he liked best, there- 
fore, if the Christians were not fools, they would 
mind their own business and let them alone. 
However, the Christians had a right to follow 
their superstitions and enjoy themselves the best 
they knew how. They had no objection to the 
church buildings on the corners, because they 
were an ornament to the city, and gave the com- 
munity the appearance of respectability, but the. 
poor deluded fanatics who went there were blind 
to the interests of the community, and the prop- 
erty yielded no income to the public treasury, 
while on the other hand it was a burden on the 
people, and the Church did not approve of any 
way of getting money except to work for it, 
when the facts of the case are that the world 
owes every man a living and lots of fun, and 
every man has a right to get it the best way he 
can. On the other hand, the saloon was a thing 
that all the people wanted, and beside, it gave 
the people a chance to be sociable, and once in a 
while, when they get a little blue, there is noth- 
ing in the world that will drown sorrow and 
make men feel rich and happy like a little wine, 
and of course its no difference whether a man 
drinks water, beer, whisky or champagne, be- 
cause men have to drink something, and if they 
don't drink one thing, they will another, and 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 25 r 

the temperance people all have a jug in the cel- 
lar, and only stay out of the grog shop to make 
people think they are good. Then they said 
that everybody knew that a man could do just 
as he pleased, and if men wanted to make the 
most of life and have a good time in their own 
way, they thought as long as they did what they 
thought was right, they stood as good a chance 
to get to Heaven as anybody else. 

Now the poor fools, alive again, begin to 
reason in this wise : We are here again, our life 
is perfect, and we have been given a new life, 
and although our course did not seem to be 
right according to some people's crazy way of 
thinking, here we are again, alive forever, and I 
don't see why we might not just as well go on 
and have a good time just as we did before. 

Then a rich man stood up who had lived in 
Jerusalem near the Temple, and he said that 
when he lived there he had plenty of money and 
a good, comfortable home which he had bought 
with his own money, and he then thought the 
enjoyment he had was at least a great deal better 
than that the people had who went to Church to 
get happy and shout and sing; but his wine 
cellar was full of great delight, and he preferred 
to read his paper, to see who was in the city to buy 
real estate, as he had a hole in a corner, and if he 
could soak someone in a real estate trade it would 
make him feel good, because a fool and his 



252 THE DOOR OPENED. 

money were soon parted, so lie enjoyed life as He 
went along. Bnt one day lie took sick, and be- 
cause he had never gone to Church, nor was ac- 
quainted with any of the Christians, he did'nt 
like to let them know that he was afraid to die. 
He felt very bad because he saw it was getting 
dark, and he knew that he was dying, and he 
did'nt know where he was going, and he was 
troubled about his wealth and property which he 
liad to leave behind. He knew that some time he 
would really have to meet the grim monster, 
death, and he remembered how tbe Jews had 
killed a man who claimed to be the Saviour of 
the world, and that had been made a king in 
Heaven, who was to condemn all the people who 
did not believe what he said, and it was a hor- 
rible thing to have to be called into account of 
liow he got his wealth. But it got darker all 
the time and he suffered terribly, when all at 
once he opened his eyes in a place where there 
were thousands of people who were profane and 
filthy and savage, and they all wore a look of 
dreadful fear and rage in their faces, and they 
were cruel and quarrelsome and savage, and they 
put in their whole time fighting and cutting 
each other with stones and crying; having a 
savage feast a thousand times grander than any 
they had ever had on the earth. Just outside of 
the place in which they were confined there was a 
deep, dark ditch that they could not get over, 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 253 

because if they went over on the other side, the 
light was so strong they could not endure it, and 
there was no way for them to get out of the 
horrible pit, and if it were possible for them to 
get out, their life would certainly be worse than 
it was in there. To be sure it was not very 
pleasant to hear the ones who got hurt all the 
time always gnashing their teeth and weeping, 
but certainly they had all come in there as a 
matter of their own choice. However all the 
spirits confined in that place could come to the 
sides of the pit and look out, if they were not 
revelling in a grand debauchery or quarreling 
in the lower regions of Hell. Of course we all 
chose our society in that place, and if one wants 
to be a little moderate he does'nt need to go into 
those great fights and savage feasts. So I went 
up to the impassible gulf one day, and looking 
out beyond, I saw a man whom I recognized as the 
blind beggar Lazarus, who a long time ago lay 
at my gate in Jerusalem full of sores. The 
sight of him was dreadful to me, because that 
man in Jerusalem was a common beggar, and 
one day he wanted me to give him the crumbs 
that fell from my table, and I thought that if he 
were starved to death he would not disgrace my 
property with his presence any more, and every 
body around there would be glad if he were out 
of the way, so I thought, just to be charitable 
to my neighbors on a grand scale once in my life, 



^54 ?HE DOOR OPENED. 

I would refuse to give him anything to eat 
and thereby do the community a great favor, one 
that everybody would appreciate. "The poor 
man died." But when I looked into the place 
where he was, it was nicer and richer and 
grander than anything I ever saw before, and he 
had everything he wanted, and I heard the 
sweetest music that I ever heard, and that blind 
beggar Lazarus was clad in white and his face 
beamed with joy and his eyes sparkled with de- 
light. He was sitting on a throne in a position 
of great honor. He looked like a priest in his 
long white robe. I called to him and he heard 
me and looked and listened. I was so thirsty, 
and I had no water or wine like I used to have, 
my throat burned and my tongue was parched, 
and I was tormented with intense thirst. I 
asked if he would not give me just a drop of 
cold water to cool my parched tongue, for I saw 
in there a pure river of water of life, but he 
said, " between us and thee there is a great gulf 
fixed that we can not pass over." Then I asked 
him if he would not send some one to my five 
brothers in Jerusalem and tell them that they 
come not to this place of torment ; but he said, 
"They have the Law and the Prophets, if they 
will not hear them, they would not believe, 
though one rose from the dead." Then I re- 
membered a saying that I once heard like this : 
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 255 

thy might; for there is no work nor device nor 
knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, whither 
thon goest." Bnt now that that dreadful pun- 
ishment is past, and we are here again, we may 
as well make the best of our lives, for I don't 
suppose that we will ever die again, and if we 
do it will be our own fault. So far as I am con- 
cerned, I know that others were a great deal 
more miserable than I was, and I think it best 
to profit by past experience; we will get along 
better if we are moderate in our way of living. 
He became silent, and Herod the king of 
Palestine, stood up and told how he conquered 
his family, and cut off the generation of Jesus, 
who he thought wanted to take his kingdom ; 
and he said that he was famous for slaughtering 
the innocents, because if Christ had all those 
little boys and girls on his side when they were 
grown up to mature years, they would have been 
able to take his crown. He said, my family, too, 
seemed to be scheming to defeat my plans, but 
I beat them all by chopping their heads off, and 
I am very proud of my achievements ; but those 
boys, Pilate and Agrippa, that I left, did the 
same way, only that they were too weak and 
timid. However, Christ and John the Baptist 
were gotten rid of. But in that place where we 
have just come out of, they have tried to kill me 
for their mother and brothers' sake, which I 
slew. In that place they sought revenge and 



256 THE DOOR OPENED. 

were fighting me all the time, wounding me, 
and my pains were terrible all the time, but the 
wounds closed up at once, and I think I am 
proof against anything; so if anybody has a 
quarrel with me we will settle the matter now. 
He was foolish enough to think that his new 
body was like his spirit, impervious to the 
the thrusts of death. 

Then he became quiet, and Satan and his 
angels, who had by this time infused the people's 
minds with a savage thirst for war, spake on 
this wise: 

" Kings, priests, potentates, powers, I am 
your god and king; if you will obey me, be- 
cause I am greater than you all, in that I have 
ever led mankind to follow my instructions 
everywhere, from Adam down to the last man 
upon the earth, who laid aside his garb of flesh 
in my last great battle, Armagedden, with God 
Almighty, and thereby brought you thence from 
Hell, by my great power and might, and have 
given you this resurrection of a more perfect 
body. If you will still follow me, I will show 
you what great things I have in store for all my 
children. When I have given you my law, and 
divided the dominion, I will set my chiefs upon 
thrones, each one to be a king. I will set apart 
the priesthood that my ministers may stand in 
the presence of the king to minister unto my 
children that they be kept faithful in their work, 



FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 257 

and I will give unto the priests for prophets 
each one a company of my angels, that the priests 
may be filled with the spirit of their great father 
and their god. We are here upon our new stage 
of life, and we shall work in the various stations 
that our minds may be strengthened and devel- 
oped toward the perfections of your allwise God. 
When we were on the earth before, our bodies 
were so frail that as soon as we began to have a 
feast of revely, or a great slaughter in the com- 
bats of the arena of the circus, our bodies 
opened up to the edge of the sword and our 
blood ran out till we became weak and fell down 
and died. But now that we have been in Hell, 
where we fought continually without coming to 
our end, because we had no blood to spill, but 
were filled with the spirit of my great power, 
we have come to a more perfect existence, and 
will be able to carry on more wonderful exploits. 
" This is the Law which I give you that you, 
by keeping it, may become great and strong : 

The Devil's Commandments. 

First. Thou shalt not mention the name of 
Christ, nor let his word come into 3^our heart, 
nor into your mouth. 

Second. Thou shalt trouble those who 

trouble you, render ye to every man the same 

things which they render unto you ; an eye for 

an eye, a wound for a wound, that ye may be 

17 



258 THE DOOR OPENED. 

avenged upon all your enemies. 

Third. Thou shalt hate one another with 
all malice, envy and deceipt. 

Fourth. Thou shalt deceive one another with 
all cunning deA^ices and lying and taking away 
of their strength, their inventions and their in- 
trigues, that ye may become famous in taking 
peace from the mind and heart of many. 

Fifth. Thou shalt not on any occasion speak 
truthfully about anything, because in so doing 
thou wilt take away the glory and power of the 
the spirit which gives thee strength to do won- 
ders in your feasts of slaughter. 

Sixth. Thou shalt desire thy neighbor's 
wife and his property, or anything that he has, 
which will make thee great. 

Seventh. Thou shalt in no wise wear a sor- 
rowful look or be down-cast when ye are over- 
come in war, but thou shalt carry thy head with 
pride and great pomp; for the weak cry out 
when they are wounded, and they gnash their 
teeth when the} T feel any pain; but ye shall 
shout when ye are thrust through with the 
sword, and swear great words of damnation, curs- 
ing with anger, and hateful and spiteful and 
filthy names. 

Eighth. After this manner shall ye pray: 
Oh, Satan, thou great father and spirit of the 
damned in Hell, thy habitation, and on earth 
thy kingdom. Give us thy spirit and thy power 






FROM DEATH TO THE RESURRECTION. 259 

that we may delight ourselves in slaughter; fill 
us with wrath and envy and strife, and send thy 
angels into our minds to teach us how to con- 
quer our enemies ; fill us with all subtil ty that 
we may deceive our foes, and at last give us a 
place of great honor in thy kingdom. 

Ninth. When thou shalt find any that sit 
still and do nothing in my kingdom, or are fear- 
ful in war, thou shalt bind them in chains and 
put them in a place where they can not see our 
great works, nor have a part in the feasts of war 
until they are filled with wrath, and are willing 
to come out and fight like a man. 

Tenth. If thou shalt find anything in the 
earth which Jesus Christ or the Christians have 
done, or if ye find a Christian anywhere, thou 
shalt command him to come with thee, and if he 
refuse to do it, thou shalt strike him with thy 
sword and burn him with fire in the presence of 
all my priests and kings and angels. 

"This is my Law and my Commandments, 
which, if ye will keep, ye shall sit with me on 
my throne of fire, when ye come to the great 
feasts of waves in the throne of my glory. 

" Cain shall be king over the people who 
lived before the flood ; Ham over the inhabitants 
of Arabia and Africa; Pharoah over Egypt; 
Ahab over Samaria; in Judah there shall be two 
kings, the Lords of Tyre and Sidon ; in Baby- 
lon the Lord of Sodom and Gamorreh; around 



260 THE door opened. 

the Great Sea I have set Herod the Great to be 
king, because he is very famous in slaughter; 
Julian shall be king of kings over all the great 
empire, and shall go with me as a great consel- 
lor in giving strength and wisdom to all my 
kings. When ye go to your own places in this 
third stage of our existence, ye shall choose the 
next in power, below the great ones which I 
have set over you for kings, to be your priests. 
Ye shall choose those who have been most obe- 
dient to my law, and they shall teach you all 
things that you shall do. 

"Now I must leave you for awhile, go your 
way and prepare yourselves for war, and I will 
come again to see how you are getting along. 
And when I come again, we will gather ourselves 
together in the great feast of the gods, for we 
are allwise, and if ye keep my law till I come 
again, I will take you with me, that where I am 
there shall ye be also." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 

The closing scenes of the inhabitable period 
of the earth have broken the mountains in 
pieces, overthrown the cities, and utterly des- 
troyed the face of nature. The intense heat of 
the lower atmosphere, which the Prophet 
Malachi calls an oven, burns up all the works of 
man everywhere. The trees, all vegetation, and 
everything that once adorned the earth, together 
with all seeds of every kind, are burned and 
come to their end, for the time has come when 
there shall be no more curse. The earth has 
been purified, but is without form, and void, ac- 
cording to another Prophet ; that is to say, that 
it is in much the same condition it was before the 
six days work of Creation, after the time when 
the waters that were under the firmament were 
separated from the waters which were above the 
firmament, when the dry land appeared and the 
sun became visible, had there been anyone to 
see it, which was not so when the clouds of vapor 
were thick and close to the surface of the earth. 
There was no man upon the face of the whole 
earth, and all was desolate and drear. 
261 



262 THE DOOR OPENED. 

The heat, it may be, will have been sufficient 
to burn the stones of large buildings into lime, 
but the picture in Revelation of the fowls of 
heaven gathering themselves together to the 
supper of the Great God, would indicate that 
the bodies of men and horses and cattle will not 
be literally burned into ashes, and yet their com- 
plete extinction is described, being as ashes 
under the feet of the righteous ; that is, if the 
righteous were to come at this juncture of the 
wasting destruction of man, beast, cities and 
vegetation, they would walk in the ashes of the 
wicked. But at this time the righteous are 
caught up in the air with Christ, their own 
souls coming out of Heaven, and all the holy 
angels with them; so we mark the point in 
these changing scenes where the Scriptures say, 
"And there was no man." 

There can be no doubt but that the destiny 
of the earth, our world, is the common destiny 
of all inhabitable spheres when they have run 
their allotted course. Then, if it be true that 
each sphere of the universe experiences periods 
of constant change, passing from one condition 
to another, it is also true that these changes are 
brought about in a manner that can in no way 
interfere with the great natural laws by which 
God maintains the perpetual motion of the 
works of His hands. The perfection of natural 
law comprehends the effectual working of all 



the conditions to which these spheres are sub- 
jected, to bring about the changed condition 
which is necessitated by the changed condition 
of the inhabitants, for whose needs and happi- 
ness they were created. God satisfieth the de- 
sire of every living thing ; so if the earth is to 
be the eternal home of the Elect, the changes 
to be made will fit up the New Earth to satisfy 
the needs of all those who are to dwell in it. 

These changes will take place according to 
natural law, so far as the universe is concerned, 
at the disposition of God's hand, but the out- 
ward form, dress and adornment of the earth 
will necessitate a new, and it may be, an instan- 
taneous creation, which is not impossible with 
God, who by the word of His power hath called 
into existence all things, both animate and in- 
animate. I can conceive that if the sun were 
turned back so many degrees, or made to stand 
still as it appeared, as recorded in Scripture, 
that it would be brought about by stopping the 
diurnal revolution of the earth upon its axis for 
a time, which would in no way effect any of the 
other spheres. So I am led to believe that this 
will be the way in which the earth will experi- 
ence an Eternal Day. But, as according to 
natural law, only half of the earth is lighted by 
the sun at one time, while the other side is left in 
darkness, in order to maintain perpetual day on 
one side and perpetual night on the other, the 



264 THE DOOR OPENED. 

earth, instead of making a dinrnal will make an 
anual revolution upon its axis, by which, the 
same side will always enjoy the sunlight. It is 
possible that the action of the elements in the 
destruction of the earth, in which the islands 
fled away and the mountains were not found, 
may so change the surface of the earth as to 
cause the seas to run down to their place on the 
other side, and the dry land appear on the side 
upon which the sun will shine in Eternal Day. 

The diurnal motion of the earth could be 
changed suddenly, in which case the waters would 
rush over the continents and sweep them clean, 
leveling the mountains, filling the valleys and 
cleansing the elevated sections; the velocity of 
the revolutions could be retarded gradually. 
There could be no difference in the result. 

Then again, the heavens are to be rolled up 
as a scroll, which will literally come to pass, in 
that they can not be seen. We can not see the 
stars, and the moon does not shine in a natural 
day, but the day that is contemplated in the 
eternity of this world is to be very different 
from our natural day. Although John says: 
''They have no need of the sun," in the New 
Jerusalem, he does not say that it will not shine 
on this side of the earth ; and while I can be- 
lieve that Christ will lighten the city with His 
glory so inemble that the sun can not be seen 
by those who remain in the New Jerusalem, I 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 265 

believe that the people of Heaven will be per- 
mitted to go out of the city to the utmost con- 
fines of day, and here they will have need of the 
light of the sun, and they may see his face ; 
and so I believe the glory of Christ will ever 
outshine the splendor of the eternal day, and 
that glory can be seen afar, that all the host of 
Heaven may distinguish their glorious King 
where\ T er He goes in nature's boundless realm. 

After the destruction of the works of man, 
and the dust and smoke and clouds have been 
carried away, the atmosphere will be very differ- 
ent. The Tropical region under the present 
conditions experiences perpetual summer, and 
as warmth is conducive to health and happiness, 
we conclude that the dr} r land upon which the 
day shines will be within the Temperate and 
Tropical Zones, or, to speak more definitely, the 
heat of the Tropics and the cold of the Polar 
regions will be so assimulated as to produce an 
eternal Spring over one-half of the earth's 
surface. 

The origin of heat is found partly in the 
sun, partly in the friction of the rays of light 
passing through the air, and partly by the 
velocity of the earth's surface coming in con- 
tact with the air in its diurnal rotation upon its 
axis. The air is in a state of rest as regards the 
surface of the earth in the rotary motion. While 
the earth moves in its orbit at the rate of 68,000 



266 THE DOOR OPENED. 

miles an hour, the atmosphere is carried along- 
with it, and is therefore in a state of rest ; but 
the earth revolves under the atmosphere as a 
wheel within a wheel, and while the earth has a 
velocity of 1042 miles an hour at the Equator, 
at the points known as the Poles it has no 
motion at all; thus while the Tropics receive 
the direct rays of the sun throughout the whole 
year, they also have the heat produced by the 
friction of the earth upon the air, which de- 
creases toward the Poles both by the slant of 
the sun's rays and the distance the surface 
travels as we approach the Poles. The different 
temperatures of the air in different regions give 
the atmosphere a motion within and of itself 
apart from that which the motion of the earth 
upon its axis gives it. 

The heat of commerce and manufacturies 
furnish no little assistance to these motions, so 
also the inclinations of the Poles have much to 
do with the temperature of the air. This also 
has much to do with the movements of the air 
around the earth, and in and through itself. 
When the impurities of the atmosphere are 
cleared away in the changed condition of the 
New Earth, the conditions which produce im- 
purity in the air having become a thing of the 
past, the sun's rays not meeting with the same 
impediments in passing through the air, will 
lose much of their heat, while the power of the 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 267 

light will be more effectual ; also, when the di- 
urnal revolution of the earth is changed into an 
anual motion, the heat from this source will be 
cut off. When all these important factors of 
motion cease to operate upon the earth, the mo- 
tions of the air will be almost impreceptible and 
yet be sufficient to produce the necessary con- 
dition of an Eternal Spring. 

The Word says: u And there was no more 
sea." It is not necessary for the fulfillment of 
this prophecy that the waters of the sea should 
be literally dried up for the establishment of the 
truth of the statement. The statement that on 
the fourth day God made two great lights, the 
greater light to rule the day and the lesser light 
to rule the night, does not imply that He created 
out of nothing the sun, moon and stars on the 
fourth day after he created the earth ; but it 
does teach us that if we could have been stand- 
ing on the earth at the beginning of the six 
days of creation, on the fourth day, when the 
clouds were carried away, we could have seen 
the sun, moon and stars just as they appear to 
men to-day. So far as Ave should have been able 
to conceive at that time, God revealed the greater 
and lesser lights. 

We should not then have been prepared to 
understand that the greater light was the cen- 
tral and controlling power of that system of 
worlds of which ours is but a little part. The 



268 THE DOOR OPENED. 

revelation was made according to our powers of 
conception then, and not according to the actual 
facts, and while the revelation was all true, we 
could not have been prepared to receive the whole 
truth, yet what was revealed was revealed in the 
only way that we could understand. As things 
existed differently then from what they appear- 
ed, very likely the description we have of the 
earth after it is fitted up for the eternal abode 
of the elect of God, will not correspond with 
our present conception of it ; and yet by our 
endeavors to learn more of God and of what we 
shall be in his presence and what we shall enjoy, 
we may be led to improve our minds and our 
souls for the experiences in which we are to find 
eternal joy and eternal life. 

The statement then, that the seas under the 
new conditions may run down to the shades of 
endless night on the other side of the earth, 
would in no way interfere with its equilibrium 
and would establish the truth of the statement, 
" And there was no more sea," because the twi- 
light, between the confines of day and the realms 
of night, covering a space of sixty miles, wrap- 
ping the sea in garments of thick darkness, 
which no vision of the children of light could 
penetrate, would take away from their knowl- 
edge forever the idea of the existence of a sea; 
therefore, the statement is true and the saying 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 269 

faithful in that we are told " And there was no 
more sea." 

The bare earth could not be beautiful with- 
out its carpet of green, neither would it be fra- 
grant without flowers. The beautiful sunsets 
will be impossible to an eternal day, and the 
blue dome of the arching canopy above us now 
will be obliterated in the infinitude of the spirit- 
ual vision. The cloud in the lower heavens 
could have no place where the conditions of life 
made no demands upon them, as there will be 
no rain in a spiritualized material world. If the 
surface of the earth were covered with a carpet 
of bright green, variegated with flowers of every 
imaginable variety and shade of the seven pri- 
mary colors, mingled into innumerable tints 
springing from a back ground of bright green, 
the immortal being with delicate yet acute per- 
ception could never weary in contemplation of 
the earth adorned by the taste, the perfection 
and the beauty with which the Divine Hand had so 
wondrously wrought to animate an Eternal 
Spring. 

No thorn, shall spring with the rose, 
Nor weed, from the carpet of green. 

Yet with all this beauty spread over the ground, 
the even landscape would not show its perfec- 
tion, for the variety of light and shade creates 
new wonders for display. The valley, the hill 
and the plain will still remain where the hand 



270 THE DOOR OPENED. 

•of God Has placed them to break up the echoes, 
resounding from " Heaven's melodious choir" 
for, u the lofty arch will gather and roll back 
the sound of anthems" to Heaven's remotest 
bound and every listening ear will catch the 
cycling forms of harmony and love which roll 
from throne to throne of mountain altar glorious. 
Though hill and mountain, valley, plain and 
woodland deck the earth with bursting bud and 
springing flower, with fragrant air around, 
the sparkling stream and mountain rill, the 
gently flowing crystal river which even glides 
where waves of discord never rise, would add 
new beaut} T to the scene, and I confess I must 
believe a thing made possible by none with les- 
ser power than He who gave us being in our 
eternal home. 

It is a well known fact that the Jordan river 
has its source in a series of lakes fed from 
springs from the foothills of Mount Lebanus. 
There are many channels carved out through 
the rocks under the surface of the ground form- 
ing water courses wide and deep and long as a 
river by which we are assured that God could 
maintain a system of rivers without the assist- 
ance of either rain or snow. 

The atmosphere around the earth is one of 
the means by which nourishment is given to 
vegitation. The air and the soil have in them 
the elements that sustain vegetable life. I think 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 27 I 

it possible that the sustaining qualities of the 
atmosphere of the new earth will be of such a 
character as to sustain the life of our glorified 
bodies without the assistance of the products of 
the soil and the things which we now require 
that subsist upon those products. We are told 
that we shall eat fruit and drink water, and how- 
ever prone we are to suppose that these words 
are used figuratively, they are no less true, for 
what pleasure would we be deprived of should 
we neither eat nor drink. We are also told that 
we shall never thirst, and we shall hunger no 
more, but however this may be, I am satisfied 
that we shall both eat and drink. The atmosphere 
will supply the necessities of the spiritual body, 
while eating and drinking will be luxuries that 
we will be permitted to enjoy to gratify our 
sense of taste, for drinking will only be an 
abundance of the same water of life which our 
new bodies may take in with the breath — with the 
air or drink from the clear rivers of water of 
life. The fruit that we may gather from the 
trees which yield their fruit every month will 
be of such a character as to have all the peculiar 
natural flavor of its kind, yet in its chemical 
and structural formation there will be nothing 
but that which our new bodies can dispose of 
by the same process by which our bodies will 
take in nutriment from the air. The outward 
form and construction of our glorified bodies 



272 THE door opened. 

will be apparently the same as they are now. We 
will have all the senses and emotions in a perfected 
state. We will have lnngs to breathe with, or- 
gans of speech, minds to will, nerves to com- 
municate, and muscles to perform whatever 
movements we desire. We will have no blood 
like in our natural bodies, neither any of our 
present economy by which our sustention is pro- 
vided for, as we shall be sustained by the air we 
breathe. What apparel we shall have need of, 
God can supply of linen pure and clean. I know 
that we shall have no shame, for we shall have 
no cause to be ashamed, and none of the condi- 
tions or temptations which bring us to shame, 
and yet I believe that we shall be clad in white 
wrobes which shall be kept pure and white by 
the power of God. 

These interpretations of Scripture may be 
shocking to our too would-be spiritual ideas, but 
when we remember the double meaning which 
so many Scriptures have, I don't think a little 
material will be out of place along with our 
spiritual existence in the glorified state where 
all is material except our spirits. For the meek 
shall inherit the earth ; Christ says so in his ser- 
mon on the Mount. And again that he creates 
a new Heaven and a new Earth ; also, he prom- 
ised his disciples to come again. I might be- 
lieve different things about Heaven than these, 
but as I have applied the safe guide by inter- 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 273 

preting the Scriptures by the Scriptures ■, led by 
the Spirit which it is promised will lead us into 
all Truth ; as I believe in Jesus Christ, the 
Saviour of the world, with the same Faith I be- 
lieve I am telling at least a part of the Truth. 
The finite can not enter the Infinite, but the 
Infinite can enter the finite, and use the finite 
to speak the Truth. 

The ungodly can not know, but " the wise shall 
understand. " I do not think that any of the 
conditions that cause decay will enter into the 
New Heavens and the New Earth ; neither do I 
think that anything will have an existence ex- 
cept what is conducive to the most perfect peace 
and happiness. There will be no more sorrow, 
neither sighing or tears while the streams of 
joy will flow on forever and ever and we shall 
have rest from sin and Satan for Christ will be 
all in all. 

Another matter of interest in connection 
with the New Earth is the weight of bodies. 
Weight is the force with which anything is 
drawn to the earth. Thus if it were not for the 
attraction of gravitation, the earth could not be 
held together, while the objects on its surface 
would fly off into space at a right angle to a line 
drawn from the center of the earth to the point 
where the object rests on its surface. The force 
of gravitation is applied to matter to prevent 

this, so that the object acted upon need not be 

18 



274 THE DOOR OPENED. 

conscious of the existence of the law to retain 
its position. This force acts upon the particles 
of matter, therefore the weight of any body 
depends upon the number of the particles of 
matter contained in that body; so that just as 
proportionately the number of particles are in- 
creased or decreased, so will its weight be. The 
revolution of the earth upon its axis necessi- 
tates gravitation, hence if the velocity of the 
earth's surface be increased, so must the attrac- 
tion of gravitation be increased, or vice-versa. 
If a body weighs 365 lbs. when the earth rotates 
upon its axis once every twenty-four hours, then 
it will only need to weigh one pound when the 
earth completes one revolution in 365 days. 
The centrifugal and the centripetal forces must 
be equal in order to leave any object in a state 
of rest. These changes being affected in the 
New Earth, if the number of particles of which 
the earth is composed, and I see no reason why 
they should be, the number of particles of mat- 
ter in the spiritual body will have to be decreas- 
ed in the ratio of 365 to 1 in order to leave it in 
a state of rest (that is to say unconscious of 
weight), hence the weight of the Spiritual Body 
will be decreased so that the man who now 
weighs 150 lbs. will then weigh only 1M of one 
pound, and yet maintain his natural size. In 
view of the changes made to harmonize the 
natural forces, we are not astonished that the 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 275 

weight of the spiritual body should be so little. 
Only the material parts of the spiritual body have 
any weights at all, for the natural can not at- 
tract the spiritual. It is so here also. The soul 
has no weight. The fine, tenacious material 
strengthened with divinity will give form and 
power ; such power so far exceeding our present 
natural forces, rendering fatigue impossible 
Our spiritual bodies can be seen, felt or handled 
not alone by the inhabitants of the New Earth, 
but also by man with the present natural facili- 
ties of perception. I need not remind you that 
those men in bright apparel were so, which stood 
with the disciples at the ascension of Christ ; or 
Moses and Elias, which stood with Him in the 
Mount of Transfiguration ; or to go back to the 
time when the men (angels) came to lead Lot 
out of Sodom. They took hold of his hand and 
hasted him out of the city. Lot felt the power 
of more than human force drawing him along. 
But not wishing to extenuate in this matter, 
we will take a glance at the powers of locomo- 
tion or other motions desirable in our spiritual 
existence, and go on to the Work of a Thousand 
Years, in which we live and reign with Christ. 
However, as concerns the intellectual power with 
which the spiritual body is endowed, we remem- 
ber how Jesus confounded the Doctors of the 
Law in the Temple at Jerusalem, when His 
natural body was only twelve years of age. 



276 THE DOOR OPENED. 

I have before mentioned, that when the Son 
was with the Father in Heaven he was Michael 
the Archangel, so I venture the statement here, 
that when the circumstances attending His life 
in the Flesh demanded Divine power, His mind 
was endued with the power of His heavenly wis- 
dom ; but I only mention this circumstance to 
account for His wisdom on this special occasion, 
for I believe at other times He was was perfectly 
human, as in His power to save He is perfectly 
divine. Concerning our powers of locomotion, 
certainly we will be able to perform all the 
movements which are natural to this present 
life; but as we are led to believe, the enjoy- 
ments and the employments of Heaven will 
necessitate our presence everywhere in the wide 
domain, then by what means shall we be carried 
in our travels ? Angels have been pictured by 
our artists having wings, but Angels are not 
fowls of the air, neither do they have wings to 
fly withall, nor will humanity immortalized ever 
be an Angel; but they shall be as Angels, hav- 
ing the power within themselves to go about 
wherever their desires may call them. 

This power comes to our mind in the con- 
ception of flight, but even though we fly, as it 
were, we shall have no need of wings. When 
Jesus was transfigured in the presence of Peter, 
James, and John his brother, though Christ and 
Moses and Elias, rose up from the earth before 



THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 277 

them, and his face shone as the sun and his rai- 
ment became as white as the light, there is no men- 
tion that he was otherwise changed. His body, of 
light and power was a prefiguration of what we 
shall be when we shall come to be with him for- 
ever, and if this were possible to His natural 
body, it will not be impossible to our glorified 
bodies, because he is our elder brother in the 
flesh, as also we, of the spirit are sons and 
daughters together with him of God, the Father, 
who hath also made us joint heirs with him to 
the inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled 
and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven 
for us who are saved by His blood, risen with 
Him from the dead, ascended with Him to the 
Father in Heaven, and sanctified with Him in 
the inheritance of the purchased possession, 
which is life everlasting and fullness of joy. 
As the electric current is instant at all places 
wherever the wires lead it, so we, of ourselves 
will be instant at all places whithersoever we 
determine to be. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 

In the General Assembly of the First Born 
in the New Jerusalem which cometh down from 
God, out of Heaven, we shall be called together 
to hear the testimony of the ages for the justifi- 
cation of the Law of God, and the final con- 
demnation of sinners in the day of judgment of 
the children of wrath when Satan and his hosts 
shall be driven from the presence of God forever, 
and the resurrected bodies of the wicked be 
burned up in the fire which cometh down from 
God out of Heaven. When the Son of Man 
shall give his final word, "Depart from me, I 
never knew ye." This is the secoiid death. 
Thus as you see, in these few short sentences, 
we have the Alpha and Omega, the beginning, 
and the end, of the work of a thousand years, 
which are set apart from the rest of the eternal 
ages for a specific work, and that work is to 
establish the fact, that God has not only been 
just in the condemnation of the finally impeni- 
tent, but that his justice has been so tempered 
with mercy and love, as to show forth his good- 
ness to those upon whom his final condemnation 

shall come. So that not only the Elect shall 
278 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 279 

magnify his holy name, but the condemned also 
will cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, art thon, Lord God 
Almighty; just and perfect are thy ways thou 
king of saints; there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth. 

There are a great many different opinions 
concerning the thousand years mentioned in 
Rev. xx — 4, "and they lived and reigned with 
Christ a thousand years. " 

That Christ will come again according to his 
promise to the disciples when he was upon the 
earth, is generally accepted as true, but how 
could he come again and not be upon the earth ; 
as there are those who believe that he will come 
and take his saints with him again, to the place 
where he is, in the presence of God ; when we 
remember that God is everywhere there is no 
doubt of the truth of this belief, although there 
is no definite place of abode fixed, and therefore 
it is of little difference where or what we are, 
so that we are free from sin in the presence of 
God. So long as we can form no adequate con- 
ception of where or what w T e shall be, we do not 
give eternal life the proper share of our thoughts ; 
if there is nothing before us in eternity beyond 
a conception of joy, even though it be forever, 
how shall we be prepared to glorify God or to 
exalt him when we think only of ourselves as 
being happy in Heaven? This is selfishness 
complete and unbecoming in those who are the 



280 THE DOOR OPENED. 

heirs of salvation. We have dwelt too long on 
onr own joy and have forgotten to glorify God 
who has connted ns worthy to stand before him 
in glory. When we read in the Scripture that 
they serve Him day and night in His temple, I 
don't think we ought to waste so much time 
preparing for a long rest. 

I have taken up this subject, in order to show 
what we shall be and what we shall do in the 
eternal life, that we may at least spend a part of 
our time here in getting ready to glorify God 
in the life which is to come ; but before we go 
into these things, I wish to set this matter be- 
fore our minds in some tangible form — in some 
definite place, which, when we have done we 
will be able to conceive of the realities of the 
life beyond. There are others who believe that 
the Gospel will finally be the means of convert- 
ing all men eveywhere from sin unto Salvation. 
That sin, like everything else, will have its day, 
and finally become extinct so that men will do 
right in the absence of temptation to sin. Then 
we hear them quoting Scripture like this : Men 
shall learn war no more — the lion and the lamb 
shall lie down together — they shall beat their 
plowshares into pruning hooks, etc. But when ? 
Surely not is this world, for Christ saith, there 
shall be wars and rumors of wars ; as it was in 
the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son 
of Man cometh. Then again, speaking on this 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 28 1 

same subject, when he spoke of his coming 
again to his disciples, they said to him, " tell us, 
when shall these things be and what shall be 
the sign of thy coming"; and he spake again: 
" When the fig tree putteth forth her leaves ye 
know that summer is nigh ; therefore, when ye 
see these things, watch lest ye be not able to 
stand." Then again the parable of the tares 
and the wheat growing together to the time of 
the harvest, shows us plainly that the world will 
be no better in the future than it is now, for 
Peter says the end shall not come till the son of 
Perditions be revealed. Now if this is under- 
stood to be the same as Christ was revealed in 
the flesh, then Satan will live on the earth in 
the flesh the same as Christ did (that is as a 
man), only that his work will be of its own kind; 
and again when we read of the day that shall 
burn as an oven in which the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat and the wicked shall be 
burned up, we conclude that while seed-time and 
hasvest remains, so will the tares and the wheat 
remain in the field; therefore, while we may 
sincerely desire that all men should come to a 
knowledge of the truth, and though w r e hope and 
give and pray and labor to this end, though 
many be purified and made white, the time will 
never come when all that tread the earth will 
walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. 

Heathens are born into the world faster than 



282 THE DOOR OPENED. 

souls are born into the kingdom of Christ ; so 
it can not be that the coming of Christ will find 
no sin on the earth. 

If Christians are becoming more numerous 
day by day, so are the ungodly, more so ; if the 
periods of great revival shall be long, the period 
of great falling away shall be short, for Christ 
will come in answer to prayer, to cut off sin in 
the flesh by the destruction of the eart'h, and 
all the works of man in a fire, that shall leave 
them neither root nor branch. And so shall the 
end come to the inhabitable period of this earth. 

This book is not written to tickle the ears 
of mankind, but that they may know the truth, 
that the truth may make them free. The com- 
ing of Christ then, to this earth, will take place 
when the cup of indignation is filled up and the 
time come when the business affairs of this 
world will come to their end. The brightness, 
of his coming will destroy the wicked, and all 
Christ's people will be gathered together in the 
temple of the great congregation, which is the 
New Jerusalem, which will be built without 
hands in His holy mountain of the precious 
stones mentioned in the Sacred narrative of John 
the Evangelist, and will be simply a temple 
without cover, except the azure. blue of heaven's 
arching canopy, no floor but the Jasper stone, 
clear as crystal, glittering in the golden splen- 
dor of the twelve precious colors of the walk 



THK WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 283. 

The gates of pearl will be the only opening in 
the temple, and the heaven above will be the 
one great memorial window of God, and the 
glory of Christ will lighten the temple. This 
city, we may say then, is simply a great wall 
with the first foundation underlying the whole, 
which is the golden street. 

This temple of the great assembly will be 
large enough to seat the redeemed of all ages at 
one time, and because we have perhaps not 
thought of this house as adequate to such a com- 
pany, it has been called a city in order to be 
understood as if to assert that the lack of 
knowledge would give men the idea that few 
would be saved, and that a large city would hold 
them all at once ; and so it is that God has been 
wisdom for us to the end that he might help us, 
who are weak. That this city will be a material 
literal city or temple built without hands, or 
human skill, built of God, Eternal, incorruptible 
and that fadeth not away, I have do doubt what- 
ever, and I say unto you now, Blessed are they 
who shall enter its pearly gates, singing the 
praises of Christ, our king. This city, then, 
will stand where Jerusalem stands to-day. 

This brings to mind the prevailing idea that 
the Jews will come again to Jerusalem and build 
a city where they niay live in peace the rest of 
their days ; but I am pursuaded that even if this 
were so, the time would come when it would. 



284 THE DOOR OPENED. 

again be destroyed, perhaps before trie end. 
There are those who talk about what they will 
do first, and who they will see first, and have an 
idea that as they go along they will have doubts 
removed, questions answered, curiosity satisfied, 
and so on, one thing after another, but after 
that is beyond conception. Some have express- 
ed themselves as being glad to have been counted 
worthy to enter the city at all, some want to 
embrace Christ, others want to see their children 
and be united in one happy family again, to be 
separated no more forever. Some have felt sat- 
isfied to rest in the assurance that they shall be 
free from pain and sorrow, and have all their 
wants supplied. They shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more, and sickness and suf- 
fering will flee away. Others are waiting to get 
their account of good and bad deeds out of the 
book of remembrance, to see if the accounts 
balance, or if they have been credited with more 
than their debt, and to see if their names have 
been written in the Lamb's Book of Life, not 
thinking that God saw the end from the begin- 
ning, or could not possibly have made a mistake, 
or perhaps waited to see the outcome of the 
judgment day to see whether their names should 
then be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and 
they be counted worthy to enter the city. And 
so we grope on in the darkness, dishonoring God 
in unbelief, because we have not taken Him at 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 285 

his word, or believed the report of those whom 
He hath sent; not remembering His words 
when he said, "he that believeth on the Son 
hath life, and he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed." Not be- 
cause we are worthy, not because we have been 
good, not because we have paid more than we 
owed, but, he that believeth hath life (now), not 
hereafter, but now and hereafter, because he be- 
lieved. 

And they lived and reigned with Christ a 
thousand years. They reigned with Christ. 
This implies that there shall be a kingdom, the 
kingdom of Christ, in which a court of justice 
will be established, a seat of authority, with 
Christ seated as the King of kings, judging the 
nations of them which are saved, and also the 
nations of them which are lost. "Therefore, 
judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
come, who both will bring to light the hidden 
things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
counsels of the heart ; and then shall every man 
have praise of God." — ist Cor., 4-5. 

By this we see that our present knowledge 
is not sufficient to tell who will be saved and 
who will be lost, and yet men judge in this man- 
ner, which is not wise. 

"Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge 
the earth ; with righteousness shall he judge the 
world, and the people with equity. "— Ps. xcviii-9. 



:286 THK DOOR OPENED. 

"The heaven, even the heavens are the 
Lord's, bnt the earth hath he given to the child- 
ren of men." — Ps. cxv-16. 

The kingdom of Christ began in Jerusalem, 
when he established it by forgiving sins, per- 
forming miracles, casting ont devils, organized 
the Church, and sent the Holy Ghost, which 
stood in tongues of fire upon the heads of his 
people in the day of Pentecost, and will end in 
the great judgment day of the wicked at the 
end of the thousand years. During all these 
years, covering about thirty-three centuries, 
he is judging the world in righteousness by his 
pure life in the flesh, by his word, the Scriptures, 
by his Spirit, and by the testimony of his Saints, 
in the Temple of God in the New Earth during 
the last ten centuries before the final condemna- 
tion of the ungodly. But his kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom, and to his dominion there 
shall be no end; that is, his rule will be for all 
time, King of kings, in the ages of time, judge 
of the earth during the thousand years on the 
seat of his power, and after this Lord of Lords 
through all Eternity, so that to his dominion 
there shall be no end. 

"The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, for 
behold he cometh, and his reward is in his hand 
to give beauty for ashes, and a cup of joy for 
the spirit of heaviness." 

A great deal has been said and written about 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 287 

Heaven and the relations of Christ to God, the 
Father, about whom we shall see and worship, 
etc. I will give my views of these things so 
that the reader, if possible, may catch my idea 
to a more perfect understanding of the subject 
under consideration in this chapter. 

God, the Father of all things has created 
and maintained the universe, and has set them 
eternal in the heavens. These were all made 
by the power of his word, out of nothing, in 
the beginning, a time of which we can form no 
adequate conception. These each have their 
formative period, which progresses regular^ 
according to natural law. They, or such as God 
hath chosen to be the habitation of men, have 
their inhabitable period. I will not go into a 
discussion of what the conditions of life, body 
or character of these people are which live in 
the different worlds, but, as I have before stated 
in a preceding chapter, I can conceive of no 
lower grade of human life than ours, neither do 
I believe there is any higher grade existing 
during the time of their inhabitable period. 
I do not believe that God made any mistake in 
the creation of man, neither do I believe that 
He has been disappointed in the inhabitants of 
the earth, as many seem to think. God not 
only proposes but he disposes all things, and the 
means are unto the end of His great glory. 
If God, willing to suffer the fall here, for the 



288 THE DOOR OPENED. 

eternal life and joy of man, through faith unto 
salvation, by the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, 
who will save all men from sin who come unto 
him to the praise of the justice of God, I can 
not see why he should have a different plan for 
another world, for every world must have a 
Savior unto life eternal. If it were possible for 
those who live in the flesh to abstain from sin, 
sin had never entered heaven whereby Satan and 
his angels were cast out, hence I conclude that 
all people of all worlds are sinners, some saved 
by grace. There is, therefore, one great Heaven 
of Heavens in which God sits upon the throne 
of his glory. This is the Father's house unto 
which Jesus went when he was taken up to give 
an account of his stewardship, and to be a per- 
petual propitiation for sin and uncleanness, and 
so must all souls of men everywhere depart, 
the redeemed to be with Christ in the presence 
of God, and the rest of mankind into the pres- 
ence and kingdom of the god of this world 
(Satan). God has given the earth to Jesus 
Christ for an everlasting inheritance, and at the 
end of time he shall come with his redeemed 
a^d enter the temple, saying: "Lift up your 
heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lifted up, ye ever- 
lasting doors; and the king of glory shall come 
in." Who is this king of glory? The Lord of 
hosts, he is the king of glory. 

David says, " One thing have I desired of the 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 289 

Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell 
in the house of the Lord, all the days of my 
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to 
inquire in his temple. For in the time of 
trouble he shall hide me in his pavillion ; in the 
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he 
shall set me up, upon a rock. And now shall 
mine head be lifted up, above mine enemies 
round about me; therefore will I offer in his 
tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea I 
will sing praises unto the Lord." There is no 
doubt, then, that when we enter the gates of 
the Temple, with praises unto the Lord, that the 
first thing will be to engage in the worship of 
God in the great congregation of the redeemed. 

David says, he will set me upon a rock, and 
I will sing praises. 

If you will imagine a picture of the founda- 
tions of the wall of the city, you will see the 
stepping stones of the foundation, which are 
for seats; you will understand that the 
great company are seated all around the w r all 
which lieth four square, eleven seats high, 
receding one above the other, so that all can see 
and hear alike. Imagine, if you can, your high 
priest (Christ) standing in the midst of the 
general assembly of the First Born, with hands 
uplifted over the great company for the blessing 
of God saying: " Father, the hour is come, 
glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. 

19 



290 THE DOOR OPENED. 

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, 
that he should give eternal life to as many as 
Thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, 
that they might know thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent ; I have 
glorified Thee on the earth ; I have finished the 
work which thou gavest me to do. And now 

Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, 
with the glory which I had with thee before the 
world was. I have manifested thy name unto 
the men which thou gavest me out of the world ; 
thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and 
they have kept thy word. Now they have 
known that all things whatsoever thou hast 
given me are of thee, for I have given unto 
them the words which thou gavest me, and the}^ 
have received them, and have known surely that 

1 came out from thee, and they have believed 
that thou didst send me. And the glory which 
thou gavest me, I have given them; that they 
may be one even as we are one ; I, in them, and 
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
one. O, righteous Father, the world hath not 
known thee, but I have known thee, and these 
have known that thou hath sent me. And I have 
declared unto them thy name, and will declare it ; 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may 
be in them, and I in them." 

Then in answer to this the great congrega- 
tion break forth in the voice of many waters, 



THF, WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 29 1 

singing the grand old doxology : 

" Praise God from whom all blessings flow ; 
Praise him all creatures here below ; 
Praise him above ye heavenly host, 
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost." 

Then I fancy I see David, the great chorister, 
standing before Christ with the great choir of 
144,000 voices, and they sing the new song be- 
fore the throne, and no man conld learn that 
song bnt the 144,000 which were redeemed from 
the earth. These are they which follow the 
Lamb withersoever he goeth, being the first 
fruits nnto God and the Lamb. Rev. xiv. — 
"And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the 
Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty- 
four thousand, having his Father's name written 
in their foreheads, and I heard a voice from 
heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of a great thunder ; and I heard the voice 
of harpers harping with their harps, and they 
sung a new song," What is more fitting than 
for David to lead heaven's great choir, who has 
led the praise of the whole earth for the last 
twenty-nine centuries and more. Thou hast 
been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many things. And when they were 
through, the Lion of the tribe of Judah and 
the offspring of David stood up to deliver his 
Sermon on the Mount, saying : " Come ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 



292 THE DOOR OPENED. 

you from the foundation of the world. * * * n 
Then the four and twenty Elders fell on their 
faces and worshipped, saying: "We give thee 
thanks, O, Lord, God Almighty, which art, and 
wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken 
to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. " 
And they sung the song of Moses, the servant 
of God and of the Lamb. In the church tri- 
umphant Christ is the High Priest whom we 
are to worship as God the Lord and Redeemer. 

The twenty-four Elders are priests of God 
and of the Lamb, and they shall reign with 
Christ on the earth. John says, " I saw thrones 
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given 
unto them, and I saw the dead, small and great, 
stand before God ; and the books were opened, 
and another book was opened which is the book 
of life; and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books accord- 
ing to their works." Therefore, you see, that 
every one must give an account unto God. 

These books are not paper books, nor books 
like anything which we have. The great Savior 
of men calleth his own by name, and they know 
his voice and they follow him. In the Lamb's 
Book of Life, on the tablets of his great heart 
of love, their names are written in crimson lines 
that never fade away ; therefore, are they with 
him in his Temple, forever and forevermore ; but 
the divine law of their divine stations sets them 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 293 

so as every one must take his place in the sphere 
to which he belongs, according to the deeds done 
in the body ; as one star exceedeth another star 
in brightness, so shall it be that those who turn 
many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, 
forever and ever. Some who have been given 
ten talents will gain two talents, and some who 
have been given two talents will gain ten talents, 
and they all shall be given a place in glory, as 
one star exceedeth another star in brightness. 
Thus the Lord giveth to every man according 
to his work, but we can not know here how 
these things will be, for we do not all have the 
same opportunity to do good, which depends so 
much upon the circumstances with which we are 
surrounded, else we might think that God had 
put less difference between individuals in Heaven 
than the church of the earth had; for all men 
here are considered equal before God, whether 
they occupy the pulpit or the pew, for while 
they are judged according to their works, that 
judgment is rendered according to their oppor- 
tunities, so that the widow's mite will out-weigh 
the gifts of the rich who give a little of their 
abundance, while she gave all that she had, and 
so it will be that those who labor in the word 
here will receive in part here of their reward, 
while those that give for their support will give 
a part here that they may receive again, some 
thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold. 



294 TH ^ DOOR OPENED. 

Then again we have different gifts of God 
b}^ natnre ; some speak with tongues, some sing- 
ing praises unto salvation, while others listen, 
to gain the same end ; some in public and some 
in the family, some by the wayside and some in 
the field, some by kindness and others by law ; 
that all things may work together for the glory 
of God and the salvation of souls. The Elect 
of God will all be kings and priests unto God 
and the Lamb, for those who have been partakers 
with Christ in his humiliation, shall also be 
exalted together with him in glory; for the}^ 
are no longer strangers and aliens to God, but 
are come unto the possession of the saints with 
Him who was made to be sin for us that we might 
be free from the law, and dwell with him who is 
our Elder Brother, our Lord and Redeemer, 
that we may be in him and he in us, for we sit 
together drinking the same cup of joy and eat- 
ing the same bread of Heaven, to the glory of 
God the Father. 

Ambition to gain high seats of position and 
authority will have no place in the eternal city, 
for he that exalteth himself shall be ashamed, 
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; 
thus as we are drawn more and more unto the 
image of the Heavenly, we shall have joy un- 
speakable, and full of glory. Wandering away 
into sin will have become a thing of the past, 
for sin being bound in death is condemned 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 295 

together in chains of darkness with those fallen 
angels who kept not their first estate, and were 
cast ont from the presence of God forever, be- 
cause we who have suffered with Christ in the 
flesh shall rest from sin forever, with him in 
glory. 

The flaming cherubim on either side of the 
gates of pearl will keep the way of the Tree of 
Life; on either side three gates, for the city 
lieth four square, and the twelve gates. On 
each of the gates shall one sit to guard the 
entrance of eternal life. Those who watch in 
the tabernacle of joy to keep the way of the 
Tree of Life, are the four and twenty Elders 
wdio go about among the redeemed to teach them 
how to serve God acceptably and to lead them 
in their devotions; for it can not be that all 
people will meet together in worship, except 
once a month. Thus we form an idea that the 
Heavenly hosts will be composed of twenty-four 
congregations, each elder being a priest unto 
them, and they shall each gather together to 
worship in their own place at their own time, 
and the ministrations of the High Priest shall 
be through the elder in their congregation, 
who shall lead them to living fountains of 
waters, and God himself shall be their God, and 
they shall be his people, and they shall serve him 
night and day in his Temple. But as it is here 
with us who work in the vineyard of the Lord, 



296 THE DOOR OPENED. 

there being a work which is not a service of joy 
in the temple, bnt in the field, sowing the seed 
among thorns and in stony places, by the way- 
side, or in good ground, year by year gathering 
the clusters of grapes, reaping the harvests of 
souls, or " coming in rejoicing, bringing in the 
sheaves." So shall it be in Heaven, that we shall 
labor and serve and watch and teach, that we 
may give strength to weakness, rejoicing to 
gladness, and praise unspeakable to those who 
have never learned to sing the praises of our 
God. For some went into the vineyard early 
in the morning of life, while others went in at 
the eleventh hour, and though all have gained 
eternal joy, they exceed one another in the 
knowledge of God as one star exceedeth another 
in glory. Thus as we contemplate God and try 
to portray his infinite wisdom, mercy and love, 
we stand entranced amid transcendent splendors 
of glorified glory dazzling the sunlight, loosing 
its ray, and covering all crystalized forms in 
garments of night as we shout : 

Glory to God in the Highest, 
Glory to God the Father, 
Glory to God and the Lamb. 

We have been given patterns of things to 
come by the visible things of earth, that we 
may conceive of what shall be in the life to 
come. Zechariah, xiii-8, says: "And it shall be 
in that day that living waters shall go out from 






THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 297 

Jerusalem ; half of them toward the former sea, 
and half of them toward the hinder sea; in 
summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord 
shall be king over all the earth; in that day 
shall there be one Lord, and his name One." 
So it seems to me, that we of the Christian 
dispensation will worship God through our 
High Priest of Calvary, while they of the for- 
mer times will worship God through the High 
Priest after the order of Melchisedec — (Hebrews 
vii, 1) — who is one Lord over the whole earth 
and one High Priest unto all the children of 
men. 

Therefore shall twelve elders be unto the 
twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and 
twelve unto the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, 
the former and the hinder seas, for the taber- 
nacle of the wilderness shall be for the twenty- 
four congregations in their daily service; but 
the Temple of God shall be for the general 
assembly of the First Born when the Tree of 
Life shall yield its fruits once a month. As the 
ministers of God labor in the Word here, so shall 
the Elders speak all the words of this life in the 
celestial home of the ransomed. Where, then, 
shall we put Paul, who is still preaching this word 
to the millions of all these ages who read or hear 
from his sacred pages ; or Moses the great lawgiver 
to all nations in the cycles of time ; or Abraham 
whose children they are, who inhabit the realms 



298 THE DOOR OPENED. 

of Glory? Where shall we put Daniel, who 
shall stand in the end with his feet pressing the 
shining shore ; or Isaiah who told of the Babe 
in Bethlehem old, and uttered the cry of the 
cross which shall be unto all people the song of 
Salvation ; or where shall we place the wisest of 
kings who built the first house of the Lord? 
Where, oh where, shall we place the loving 
Apostle, the sublime Evangelist, the most divine 
Prophet, who stood in Patmos to look within 
the jasper walls? Where shall we look for 
Luther and Wesley, and Calvin, the immortal 
divines ; or Moody, Spurgeon, Beecher and 
Talmage ; or West, Bunyan and Moris, together 
with hosts from every age, from every clime? 
who shall inherit the realms of light and sit on 
the thrones of his love, for they shall all, all be 
priests and kings unto God and the Lamb forever 
and forever; but how shall we know, for the 
least may be greatest in the kingdom of love, 
and the little child may instruct the aged, and 
the young may lead the old, for what Heaven 
would be like home, when the little ones all 
were gone; but we know that of such is the 
kingdom of Heaven, because Jesus has told us so. 
Therefore, make your calling and election 
sure that ye may have a right to the Tree of 
Life, and enter with us the City of God, for 
none .but the pure may enter there ; for as many 
as believe shall be saved when He shall reward 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 299 

his servants. And I saw thrones, and they sat on 
them, and judgment was given unto them, 
and the books were opened. The ark of testi- 
mony was opened in Heaven and the dead were 
judged out of the things which were written in 
the books of remembrance to the praise of the 
justice of God, who by his law of love will con- 
demn the ungodly according to the deeds done 
in the body. As God hath judged the earth by 
the righteousness of his Son, Jesus Christ, so 
will Christ judge the dead in sin by his twenty- 
four Elders, which John saw upon thrones, to 
whom judgment was given. 

To this Paul testifies (ist Cor. vi-3) "Know 
ye not that we shall judge Angels? " How much 
more things that pertain to this life. The great 
court of Christ is divided in the work between 
the twenty-four judges of men and angels, who 
hear the testimony of all the witnesses of all 
the generations of men who give in their testi- 
mony one at a time, till all the witnesses are 
examined and the verdict rendered for the con- 
demnation of the wricked. If each of the twelve 
ages before our era, and each of the twelve ages 
of our era were all given at one time, the work 
would be completed in the shortest possible 
time, for I understand that all the generations 
of men will be divided into twenty-four equal 
parts. Let us treat this matter rationally, for 
the great judgment day of a thousand years is 



300 THE DOOR OPENED. 

a reality. I have made it the subject of this 
chapter, and we have already passed the long 
roll of those whose names are written in the 
hook of life, which were already entered npon 
their reward, upon whom the sacred death hath 
no power, for the second death comes after the 
judgment is all made up at the end of a thous- 
and years. These twenty-four long dockets will 
he cleared, beginning with the first and contin- 
uing till every case is tried and the verdict 
recorded. At first thought 3 T ou may think that 
a thousand years is a pretty long judgment da}^, 
but if you will look at the twenty-four dockets 
with their long list of cases to be tried, with all 
the testimony of the witnesses in each case, you 
will conclude that the time is not too long 
which God has set apart for this work. Twenty- 
four individuals being tried at one time, till all 
the nations of those that are lost shall have had 
their trial, and the testimony given by which they 
are condemned. The prisoners are not per- 
mittted to enter this court or hear the testimony 
of the Saints, but every one by their names, 
w r hich are written in the books of remembrance, 
for every one must render an account unto God 
for their ungodly deeds which they have done 
in the body. The devotions of the Saints are 
not set aside for the trials of the wicked, as we 
might suppose, but become a part of their ser- 
vice in contemplating the goodness and wisdom 



TH£ work of a thousand years. 301 

of God in dealing with sinners. It is_ perfectly 
natural for us to hear the first case on the long 
docket called for; the first sinner who did not 
repent is Cain, charged with the murder of his 
brother Abel. I don't think there will be a 
recital of the things they did do, but rather the 
things they did not do, and lest we should cast 
a cloud over the joy of Heaven, we must under- 
stand that when we are changed to this new life, 
with Christ in glory, we shall be of one mind 
and will hate sin, but love sinners; and though 
we may pity them, the exercise of that friendly 
passion will in no way detract from our joy in 
Christ. Tears and sin belong to this life, for 
Jesus wept over Jerusalem which he could not 
save, because of their unbelief; but now both 
He and us are glorified together in God ; there- 
fore, His will is our will, His love our love, His 
law our law; and we are ready to condemn sin 
and sinners who would not come unto Him that 
they might have life. And so the family circles 
of earth, and all the bonds of time are broken 
in death, that they may all be united in one 
grand and happy family of the redeemed, so 
that we shall feel no pang of pain and drop no 
tear of grief. It seems to me that after singing 
praises to God, one should stand up and repeat 
a passage of Scripture. 

Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it. 



302 THK DOOR OPENED. 

Then I hear one saying: " I, even I, that walked 
in Eden with God, and his angels ; I that sinned 
and was saved by the Tree of Life, I ever tanght 
my sons to pray. I told them of sin and the fall ; 
I told them of death, hell, and the grave; I 
pointed them to the Lord and Redeemer, bnt 
one went away from home and was lest in the 
allurements of sin, bnt the one whom he slew, 
was carried away to his home in the skies." As a 
tree falleth, so shall it lie, and they all say Amen, 
Amen, Alleluia. And they sing " Palms of vic- 
tory, palms of victory; crowns of glory I shall 
wear." And they all cry with one voice, saying, 
" Honor and blessing, dominion and might, be 
unto God and the Lamb, forever and ever, Amen!" 
Will a man rob God? Yet Jezebel, the wife of 
king Ahab, had four hundred priests of Baal, 
and Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above 
all that were before him. And it came to pass, 
as if it had been a light thing for him to walk 
in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that 
he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, 
king of the Zidonians, and went and served 
Baal and worshipped him, and he reared up an 
altar for Baal, in the house of Baal, which he 
had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove ; 
and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of 
Israel to anger, than all the kings of Israel that 
were before him. Elijah, the Tishbite, read from 
the Law, " Thou shalt have no other gods before 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 303 

me; thou shalt not make unto thee aii3 T graven im- 
age, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in 
the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow 
down thyself to them, nor serve them ; for I, the 
Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the 
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto 
the third and fourth generation of them that 
hate me ; and showing mercy unto thousands of 
them that love me and keep my commandments. " 
Zechariah then charges the jury, saying: "This 
is the law, for every one that stealeth shall be 
cut off as on this side, according to it; and 
every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on 
that side, according to it. I will bring it forth, 
saith the Lord of Hosts, and it shall enter into 
the house of the thief, and into the house of 
him that sweareth falsely by my name; and 
it shall remain in the midst of his house, and 
shall consume it with the timbers thereof, and 
the stone thereof; therefore, because thou hast 
robbed me of many of my prophets, and hast 
given thy w T ealth and my people unto Satan, to 
follow the god of the earth, and to worship him, 
and to go after him in your feasts, and desirest 
him before me, and hast robbed me of my glory, 
even the praise of thousands of those whom 
thou didst lead away to worship in the house of 
Baal, and as this has been thy desire and thy 
work and thy prayer; for I have promised, 



304 THE DOOR OPENED. 

saying, I will satisfy the desire of every living 
thing ; thus, because thou hast loved Satan and 
hast desired to be with him in his temple of fire, 
so be it, according to thy desire ; for thou hast 
no part in the Tree of Life. 

Then it seems to me I hear a voice, as the 
voice of many waters, saying: " The Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering 
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and 
transgression and sin, and that will by no means 
clear the guilty." And thus I might go on, if I 
so desired, giving testimony and rendering ver- 
dicts, in many cases of which there is no doubt 
as to their condemnation. 

Herod, the great, for instance, whose name the 
whole earth repeats with tones of condemnation 
of his cruelty and cursed death at the hands of 
worms, which gnawed the flesh from his bones, 
until he died as he had lived, a murderer from 
the beginning, and though I can not report 
every case, neither do I desire to continue what 
to us seems terrible, but nevertheless true; for 
the testimony of every prayer of all men is, 
Thou hast not rewarded us according to our 
sins, lest we had been cut off ere this ; but we 
rejoice that His mercy endureth forever. 

Paul remembers with shame, after his con- 
version, how that he went from one house to an- 
other, persecuting the people of God, and, had 



THK WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 305 

he served God through as many years as he did 
convincing many of sin, of righteousness and of 
a judgment to come; if all that are saved, who 
believed his word and come unto salvation from 
sin to the glory of God ; if all these, on his ac- 
count, were in Heaven, and himself cast out, yet 
would he praise God for his justice and good- 
ness and mercy. And though he warned men 
to flee from the wrath to come, yet was he con- 
fessedly the chief of sinners. But because of 
God's great mercy, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression and sin, he was able, with confidence in 
God, to press' on for the prize set before him, 
and he exultantly exclaims : " Henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which 
Christ, the righteous judge, w T ill give me in that 
day, and not to me only, but to all those who love 
his appearing. " 

The last one to be judged is Satan, for Christ 
must reign till he hath put all enemies under 
his feet. Let us fear God and keep his com- 
mandments, for He is come nigh us in judg- 
ment ; for the people at Sinia could not bear to 
hear the words of God. And Moses saith : ".I 
exceedingly fear and quake." (Hebrews xii, 
22.) But ye are come to Mount Sion, and unto 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusa- 
lem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 
to the general assembly of the First Born, which 

are written in Heaven, and to God, the judge 
20 



306 THK DOOR OPENED. 

of all, and to the spirits of just men made per- 
fect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new cov- 
enant, and to the blood of sprinkling that 
speaketh better things than that of Abel. See 
that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they 
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, 
much more shall not we escape, if we turn away 
from him that speaketh from Heaven ; whose 
voice then shook the earth, but now He hath 
promised, saying, yet once more. I shake, not 
the earth only, but also Heaven. And this word, 
yet once more, signifieth the removing of those 
things that are shaken, as of things that are 
made, that those things which can not be 
shaken may remain" Wherefore, we, receiving 
a kingdom which can not be moved, let us have 
grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably 
with reverence and Godly fear. For our God 
is a consuming fire. 

The thousand years are ended, and we 
come to the Little Season in which Satan is 
loosed. We have described the resurrection of 
the wicked in another chapter, speaking of 
Satan claiming to be their god, and to have 
brought them up out of Perdition and given 
them life in their new bodies upon the new 
earth. Now, lest you should get the impression 
that it has been a thousand years since their 
resurrection, I will say that their resurrection 
does not take place till the close of the thousand 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 307 

years. The first resurrection (the resurrection of 
the Just) takes place at the coming of Christ, 
when the state of the new heavens and the new 
earth begins. In the destruction of the wicked, 
the old earth's surface is burned up and it is left 
desolate. During the thousand years of judg- 
ment the saints were in the New Jerusalem, and 
know nothing about the beauties of the new 
earth. Then Satan establishes his kingdom and 
prepares to make war with the saints. They see 
the new heavens, the eternal day, and the new 
earth carpeted with georgeous dyes of green, 
set with flowers. They give all the glory to 
Satan, and acknowledge him their god and king. 
The new temple which came down from God 
out of Heaven, which Christ, the saints and the 
angels went into at the coming of Christ, is 
lighted with the glory of God, and the saints 
suppose that it is dark outside the gates. But 
they are so engaged in the work of a thousand 
years that they know nothing about anything 
else. But the wicked, who come up with Satan, 
see the eternal day, and the beautiful earth, and 
they are delighted. Satan is still deceiving 
them, for they know nothing of the saints or the 
New Jerusalem, until they compass the camp of 
the saints about. Satan, determined to ruin 
the temple, to rob Christ of his glory, and the 
saints of their great rest, lays seige to the city. 
The twelve gates of pearl are open, and the 



o8 THE DOOR OPENED. 



wicked look inside over the street of gold, 
desiring to have those things which are not 
theirs, because they would not believe; but now 
their disappointment knows no bounds. The}' 
see the Savior whom they had pierced. The 
one who had given his life that they might come 
unto eternal life with him in glory. They weep 
when it is too late for tears to avail, and they 
plead with Christ to take them in, saying: 
"Lord, Lord, have we not prophecied in thy 
name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and 
in thy name have done many wonderful works? " 
But he says unto them: "I never knew you. 
Depart, from me, ye that work iniquity." 

There shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth when they see that they are shut out ; they 
become angry at Satan, and hate him more than 
they ever loved him before ; and yet they are 
jealous of the Saints, and hate the Saviour as 
much, if not more, than they do Satan. So in 
making their last choice between Satan and 
Christ, as to whom they should love, they hate 
God because they are shut out, and they obey 
Satan from fear of worse punishment, for they 
recognize the fact that their doom is sealed, and 
Satan shall be their god. They have all sworn 
to obey his commands. They charge the city, 
but ere they reach the gates fire comes down out 
of Heaven and destroys them. Their new 
bodies are burned without the gates, and their 



THE WORK OF A THOUSAND YEARS. 309 

souls are turned again with Satan and his angels 
into the depths of Hell. 

This is the Second Death, 

I suppose their resurrection to have taken 
place in the first of the week, and the sentence 
which destroys their bodies, on the sixth day, so 
that they would in no way profane the most 
sacred of all institutions, the Sabbath, which 
from the beginning is commanded to be kept 
holy ; for, as the Lord made Heaven, the earth, 
and all things therein, and rested on the seventh 
day, so shall it be, that those who serve Him in 
His Temple of Glory, must keep his Sabbath to 
the Lord with services of praise. 

Here Christ says, " Behold, I create new 
heavens and a new earth ; the former things are 
passed away; the last enemy is destroyed, and 
there shall be no more curse, neither sickness 
nor death, neither sorrow nor tears. ' Ye shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more." 

Come and see, for all things are yours ; go ye 
out over this promised land whither ye will, in 
this second Garden of God, which He hath given 
to us for an everlasting possession. That in 
Him we may have the fullest of joy, for in the 
beautiful there is nothing more wondrous than 
this which the Lord hath made, and as ye pon- 
der the things before you, and breathe in the 
fragrance of flowers, ye must sing the praise of 
the goodness of God, who has said the meek 



3io 



THE DOOR OPENED. 



shall inherit the earth, and Him shall ye serve 
in His Temple, where all His Sabbaths prove a 
feast of joy and sacred love. 



THE END. 







